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GLIMPSES 


OF 

THREE CONTINENTS 


A SERIES OF TRAVELS IN INDIA, THE BIBLE 
LANDS, AND EUROPE 

BY 

c^w. Voss 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY" IN AUGUSTANA COLLEGE 


M 


ROCK ISLAND, ILL. 

AUGUSTANA BOOK CONCERN 

1912 





Copyright, 1912, 

BY 

AUGUST AN A BOOK CONCERN 


4 « 


ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS 
AUGUSTANA BOOK CONCERN, PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 


f j~ 

©Cl. A327948 

lUj I 


PREFACE. 


Tho present volume was written as a series of travels 
for a church weekly, “The Lutheran Companion” which 
fact at once explains some of its features of style and 
composition. It was, accordingly, written for a partic¬ 
ular class of readers, lout it is hoped that it may con¬ 
tain matters of sufficient range to interest the general 
reader as well. 

It does not purpose to be an exhaustive treatise on 
the lands and places visited, but rather glimpses, or 
brief descriptions, of such prominent features of the 
various places as impress themselves at first sight upon 
the mind of the tourist or traveler. Care has been 
taken, however, to select such material as may be of 
general interest and of a representative and permanent 
character. In most cases the historical setting has been 
presented, but, as a rule, reflections and personal opin¬ 
ions have been omitted, leaving to the reader to form 
his own opinions and draw his own conclusions from 
the facts presented. 

India and the Bible Lands have been treated more 
fully, as it has been assumed that the reader is less 
acquainted with the modes of life and general condi¬ 
tions in those more remote countries, while travel-worn 
Europe has been passed over more briefly. 


It is hoped that the reader may derive some pleasure 
and profit from this little volume. I could wish it 
might bring him as much pleasure as the review of thost 
scenes and experiences has afforded us during the writ¬ 
ing of it with all the anxieties and dangers of travel 
eliminated. 

C. W. Foss. 

Rock Island, Illinois, October, 1912. 




CONTENTS. 


I. The Voyage . 

On board the Carpathia — The Ocean — Gibraltar — Genoa 
— Naples — Port Said — The Suez Canal — The Red Sea — 
The Indian Ocean. 

II. Colombo . 

Meeting Dr. Benze — The Rickshaw Ride — The Climate 
— The Scenery — The Inhabitants. 

III. Madura . 

Tuticorin — Railroads in India — The Lutheran Mission — 
The American Board Mission — Virudupati — The Palace of 
Tirumalai Nayak — The Temple of Meenatchi. 

IV. Trichinopoly and Tanjore . 

First Sunday in India — The Rock of Trichinopoly — A Mo¬ 
hammedan Tomb and Mosque — A Hindu Funeral — The 
Temple of Subramanya. 

V. Mayavaram and Tranquebar . 

An Orphan Home — A Lutheran Publishing House — Zie- 
genbalg’s Church — The Danish Fort — The Swadeshi Move¬ 
ment. 

VI. Madras .. 

The Fort of St. George —• The Danish Mission — The S. P. 
C. K. Publishing House — The Methodist Mission and Publish¬ 
ing House — Rev. A. B. Carlson’s Tomb — Tamil and Telugu. 

VII. Guntur .. 

A Governor’s Reception — Sir Arthur Lawley — A Native 
Concert — The General Synod Mission — The Hermannsburg 
Mission — The American Baptist Mission — Christmas Dinner. 









6 


CONTENTS. 


VIII. Rajahmundry. 

The General Council Mission — The Missionaries — The Mis¬ 
sion Council — Touring the Districts — A Leper Home The 
Peddapur High School — The Boys’ Central School — The 
Girls’ Central School — The Zenana Work — The Hindu Girls’ 
Schools — The Medical Work — A Reception. 

IX. Bombay . 

Hyderabad — The Victoria Terminus — Malabar Hill — 
Towers of Silence — A Hospital for Animals. 


X. The Holy Land . 

Jaffa — Jerusalem — Church of the Holy Sepulcher — The 
Dome of the Rock — The Jews’ Wailing Place — Bethlehem 
— Gethscmane — The Mount of Olives — Bethany — Jericho 
— The Dead Sea — The Jordan. 


XI. Egypt . 

The Land of Goshen — Cairo — The Nile — The Pyramids 
of Gizeh — The Sphinx — Sakkara — The Tombs of Egypt — 
The Museum — Alexandria. 


XII. Athens . 279 

Piraeus — The Acropolis — Lycabettus — The Stadion — 

The Pnyx — Corinth — The Isthmian Canal. 


XIII. Constantinople and Batoum . 288 

Smyrna — Constantinople — St. Sophia — The Golden 
Horn — The Fire Tower — The Bazar — The Bosporus — 

The Black Sea — Batoum — Trebizond. 


XIV. Italy . 312 

Catania — Etna — Naples —• Vesuvius — Pompeii — Rome 
— St. Peter’s — The Forum — The Catacombs — The Pil¬ 
grimage Churches — Genoa — Milan — The Milan Cathedral. 

XV. Switzerland . 343 

The St. Gothard Railway — Zurich — Lucerne — The Lake 
of the Four Cantons — Pilatus — Interlaken — Harderkulm 
— The Jungfrau — Berne. 

XVI. Germany . 359 

Mainz — Worms — The Reformation Monument — Frankfort 
on the Main — Eisenach — The Wartburg — Leipzig — Liit- 
zen — Eisleben — Wittenberg — Berlin — Potsdam. 











CONTENTS. 


7 


XVII. 


XVIII. 


Sweden . 379 

Trelleborg — Malmo — Lund — Stockholm — The Palace 
— Riddarholm Church — Uppsala — The Cathedral of Upp¬ 
sala — Kinnekulle — Trollhiittan — Goteborg — Vastergot- 
land — Jonkoping. 

Homeward . 394 

Copenhagen — Liibeck — Henna nnsburg — Cologne — The 
Cathedral — Paris — The Place de la Concorde — The Place 
dc l’Opera — The Place de la Bastille — Notre Dame — Lon¬ 
don — Trafalgar Square — Westminster Abbey — The Par¬ 
liament Building — Buckingham Palace — St. Paul’s — Lon¬ 
don Bridge — Liverpool — On board the Lusitania — At 
Home. 









THE CARPATHIA 








CHAPTER I. 

The Voyage. 

At its meeting in Buffalo, 1ST. Y., in 1907, the General 
Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North 
America decided to send two commissioners to inspect 
its mission field in India. The original plan was to have 
them sail the same fall, but various delays occurred, 
and it was not before the fall of the next year that 
they were ready to start. The two commissioners se¬ 
lected by the Mission Board were Dr. C. Theodore 
Benze, then of Erie, Pa., and the present writer. 

We arranged to leave New York in October by differ¬ 
ent steamers and to meet in Naples and then sail to¬ 
gether for Colombo in Ceylon. Dr. Benze sailed for 
Hamburg and spent a short time in Germany, while we 
sailed by the Cunard Line direct for Naples. I say 
“we” because I was accompanied by my wife and my 
niece, Miss Martha Foss. 

Our steamer, the Carpathia, sailed from the pier in 
New York at noon on Thursday, October 22. Among 
the hundreds of people who stood waving their farewells 
to relatives and friends there were two who waved for 
us. They were Rev. A. B. Lilja and Rev. C. E. Hoffsten. 

Glimpses of three Continents. 2. 



10 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


It was not without fear and misgivings that we entered 
upon this voyage. I had just recovered from a long 
illness and was not at all strong. Then there were the 
dangers and hardships of the climate in India and the 
political unrest there which the press had exaggerated 
into a threatened revolution. In addition to this I had a 
separate commission from our Synod to visit our mission 
field in Urmia, Persia, and there was a long and difficult 
journey of many days through the wild Kurdish moun¬ 
tains with their lawless inhabitants, and a real revolu¬ 
tion in progress in the very part of Persia to which we 
were sent. But as the commission had been accepted 
we felt it our duty to go, and we summoned courage 
from the fact that we went under the protection of 
Almighty God and with the earnest prayers of hundreds 
of our friends at home. 

We had a pleasant voyage across the Atlantic with 
rough weather for only three days when the vessel rolled 
too much to keep dishes on the table without the so- 
called table-racks. An ocean voyage if of some duration 
is apt to become monotonous. Each day is like its yes¬ 
terday. There is the sky above and the sea beneath and 
aiound you, and though that sea is ever in motion it is 
always the same. That little vessel in the midst of the 
sea was all the world to us and our fellow passengers. 
It was a mere speck in the midst of a boundless ex¬ 
panse of waves, and we were made to realize more fully 
than ever before our dependence upon him who holds 
the waters in the hollow of his hands. 

We were on an English vessel, and the services on 
Sunday were conducted by the captain according to the 
Anglican form and in a solemn and most impressive 


THE VOYAGE. 


11 


manner. It was a singularly beautiful and comforting 
service. The audience was reverent and responsive, and 
many eyes were suffused with tears. We were all im¬ 
pressed with the feeling that God was with us in the 
midst of the sea. 

After a sail of ten days from New York we saw. the 
first land. How cheering was the sight after ten days 
of only sky and sea! It was the southern coast of 
Spain with its hazy, vine-clad hills and mountains, with 
little villages and towns nestling in the valleys and 
along the broken coast. To the south of us land also 
appeared along the dim horizon. It was the African 
coast of Morocco. These two shores approach eacli 
other more and more, and by and by we are in the straits 
of Gibraltar. We anchored for a few hours in the har¬ 
bor by the Bock of Gibraltar, and passengers had a 
chance to land and to visit the quaint old Spanish town 
and to view from the same the strongest fortress in the 
world. 

Another three days' sail brought us to Genoa. Here 
we all landed and had a chance to see the most im¬ 
portant places in this great commercial city of mediae¬ 
val fame. One of our fellow passengers, a Genoese 
merchant returning home from a visit to America, 
served us as a guide. As we again visited Genoa on 
our return voyage and made a stay of several days there, 
I shall wait with my description of the place until then. 

,Jt was upon reaching Genoa that we learned of the 
election of W. H. Taft as president of the United 
States. We had taken a vote on the vessel among the 
passengers on the day before and the vote stood in this 
order: “Debs, Taft, Bryan. We sailed from Genoa at 


12 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


midnight and the following evening, just fifteen days 
from New York, we sailed into the beautiful bay oi 
Naples. It was, however, too late to effect a landing 
before the next morning. 

Here we were to have met Dr. Benze. But instead 
of meeting him we received a letter from him stating 
that he had been unable to secure passage on our ship, 
the Omrah, and had, therefore, booked his passage 
to Colombo on a French steamer from Marseilles and 
would reach Colombo about the same time as the 
Omrah was due there. But we were doomed to still 
another disappointment. The Omrah was so over¬ 
crowded that we could not be received and had to wait 
sixteen days for the next ship of the line, the Orotava. 
What were we to do in the meantime? We could 
spend the time most profitably at sightseeing. There 
are thousands of interesting things to see in and around 
Naples, the city, the bay, Vesuvius, Pompeii, etc., and 
Rome is only four hours away. But the discouraging 
thing about it was that Mr. Benze would reach Colombo 
two weeks ahead of us. Would he wait for us at Colom¬ 
bo, or would he proceed to India? Where would we find 
him? Then, too, this was the best time for visiting 
India, and we were wasting it in worry and waiting. We 
spent these sixteen days, however, very profitably in vis¬ 
iting Naples and Rome. The description of this part 
of our trip I shall reserve until I describe the rest of our 
tour in Italy which we made the next year. 

The Orotava arrived on Sunday, Nov. 22, and early 
the next morning we sailed away from Naples, past the 
beautiful island of Capri, and by and by all land faded 
from our view. We were again in the open sea. A thick 


THE VOYAGE. 


13 


column of smoke rose before us and we were told that it 
was the volcano of Stromboli which we were approach¬ 
ing. Soon it came into view — a small cone-shaped 
island or mountain, rising abruptly from the sea to a 
great height, and belching forth immense columns of 
smoke from its summit. At sunset we sailed through 
the straits of Messina and past the city of the same 
name. Everything lay as quiet and peaceful as a dream 
in the golden light of the setting sun. No one would 
ever have supposed that in another month these peaceful 
shores would be the scene of one of the most dreadful 
convulsions of nature on record, and that quiet city 
turned into a heap of ruins. 

The next morning we had doubled the southern point 
of Italy and were again beyond the sight of land. The 
air was raw and chilly, the heavens were overcast with 
leaden clouds, the wind blew a steady gale from the 
north, and the sea was somewhat rough. Some people 
think that the Mediterranean, being an inland sea, is 
comparatively free from dangerous storms and a heavy 
sea. Such, however, is far from being the case. The 
Mediterranean is an immense sea and dangerous storms 
are not uncommon. At some point in these waters we 
crossed the line of St. Paul's voyage to Rome when he 
was shipwrecked near the island of Malta. Our course 
lay a little too far to the south of Crete to see the shores, 
and after leaving Italy the first land we saw was the dull 
and uninviting coast of Egypt. For miles and miles the 
waters were of a cloudy, greenish tint, indicating that 
they were very shallow. 

It was on the morning of Thanksgiving day that we 
entered the northern end of Suez Canal and anchored in 


14 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



The Harbor of Port Said. 


the harbor of Port Said. This city owes its origin and 
existence to the canal. It is built largely on ground 
made by the excavation of the harbor and the canal. 
It is said to be a rough and wicked city, and from what 
we saw of it we are not inclined to dispute the state¬ 
ment. We realized that we here entered the gateway to 
the Orient. The great mass of the people are no longer 
Europeans, but dark-skinned Arabs and other Orientals. 
Of the European languages used here French is the 
most common. This is partly due to the fact that the 
construction of the canal was a French enterprise. 

The passage of the canal is one of the most interesting 
parts of the voyage to India. There are three consider¬ 
able places along the canal — Port Said at the northern 
end, Suez at the southern end, and about halfway be¬ 
tween them Ismailiya. The distance from north to south 
is 87 miles. The width varies from 300 to 500 feet. 
The depth is only 30 feet. Ocean vessels pass freely up 










THE VOYAGE. 


15 


and down the canal, but when two vessels meet one of 
them has to ti^ up to the hank while the other one 
passes. The speed is limited to about six miles an hour. 
It takes about 18 hours to make the passage. The 
scenery is not interesting; low, reddish, sandy deserts 
stretch away on both sides as far as the eye can see. 
The deepest cut, near Ismailiya, is only 60 feet. It was 
at this point that the ancient roadway led from Egypt 
to Palestine, where the patriarchs passed in going down 
to Egypt or returning home. 

It was early Friday morning that we reached Suez at 
the southern end of the canal. Before us stretches to 
the southward the Gulf of Suez, the upper end of the 
Bed S'ea. At the extreme northern end of this gulf lies 
Suez in the midst of a great sandy desert. It is supplied 
with fresh water by means of a canal extending from 
the Nile. The scenery is not pretty nor inspiring, but 
the place is rich in historical associations. Some miles 
south on either side of the gulf the mountains begin to 
rise. It was no doubt at the foot of these mountains 
on the west side that Moses and the children of Israel 
stood hemmed in between the mountains and the sea 
with the hosts of Pharaoh behind them. Here they 
crossed the sea as on dry land. The width at this place 
appears to be some six to ten miles. On the opposite side 
are some fresh water fountains still called the Wells of 
Moses. May they not be the waters of Marah that Moses 
made sweet? 

As you proceed down the gulf, which averages from 15 
to 20 miles in width, you have majestic mountains 
towering on either side, those along the eastern side be¬ 
ing the most interesting both in appearance and from 


16 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


historical associations. They are all of a reddish hue like 
the sands of the desert. It is no doubt this color of the 
surroundings that has given the name to the sea. The 
waters themselves are not different in appearance from 
those of the ocean in general. 

Get a map of the Bed Sea and you will find that near 
the northern end it divides into two forks, the eastern 
being the Gulf of Akabah and the western the Gulf of 
Suez. Between these two waters lies the Sinaitic pen¬ 
insula in which the Children of Israel wandered for 
forty years. It was about sunset of the day we left Suez 
that we arrived opposite the highest mountains on the 
eastern side, the serrated peaks of Iloreb or Sinai. Here 
occurred one of the greatest events in human history. 
The Lord himself came down and touched the mountain 
and it smoked and trembled, and God spoke to all man¬ 
kind and gave the Law, the Ten Commandments. As 
the sun was sinking the lofty peaks of the mountain 
were bathed in the richest colors of purple and gold. 
But it was only for a moment. The sun dipped beneath 
the horizon, and the color changed into a deep blue, and 
as there is no twilight in these southern climes, darkness 
soon settled down over the whole scene. 

The next morning we had passed the southern point 
of the Sinaitic Peninsula and were plowing through the 
waves of the Bed S'ea proper. We were now beyond the 
sight of land on all sides. The Bed Sea is a large body 
of water, stretching from Suez in the north to the 
straits of Bab-el-Mandeb in the south, a distance of about 
1,400 miles. It has an average width of about 200 miles. 
It is said to be the hottest sailing in the world. As the 
sea is surrounded by burning deserts on all sides it 



The Suez Canal. 














18 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


makes little difference which direction the wind blows. 
Most of the passengers now donned white clothes and 
spent most of the time under awnings on deck. Though 
electric fans were going in every state room the air 
seemed hot and suffocating. Many of the passengers 
carried their bedding up on deck and slept there all 
night. 

Our vessel was small and almost unseaworthy. It was 
making its last voyage to the Orient. The vessel that 
should have been sent on this voyage and for which the 
passengers had been booked was a new and much larger 
vessel, but it had met with an accident before starting 
out, and this old and smaller vessel was called into serv¬ 
ice. It took all the passengers booked for the larger ves¬ 
sel, which made it crowded, overloaded, and unsafe. 

Of our passengers a large number were bound for 
Australia, some returning from visits in England, others 
going out as emigrants. Several were missionaries bound 
for India, some returning from furlough, and others go¬ 
ing out for the first time. Divine services were con¬ 
ducted on Sundays, morning and evening, by some of 
these missionaries and by the Bishop of Wellington, who 
was one of our passengers. 

It took us nearly five days to sail from Suez to the 
straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. By Tuesday morning we had 
reached the gulf of Aden. We sailed to the south of the 
island of Socotra. When we entered the Indian Ocean 
we felt a strong undercurrent, which made our vessel 
rock a great deal, and many of our passengers suffered 
from seasickness. 

On the second Sunday morning after leaving Suez 
we sighted land. It was the low lying island of Minne- 


THE VOYAGE. 


19 


coy, covered with a rich 'profusion of tropical growth. 
This was the first vegetation we had seen since we left 
Suez, for the shores and islands of the lied S’ea are all 
rocky, sandy, and barren. 






CHAPTER II. 

Colombo. 

The following day, Monday, just two weeks after 
leaving Naples, we anchored in the hay at Colombo. The 
landing at this place is often difficult as there is no pro¬ 
tected harbor, and the sea is often rough. We were 
fortunate in having fine weather and a quiet sea. After 
some difficulty we secured the transfer of our baggage 
to a small boat and were rowed to shore. 

A number of people stood waiting on the pier as our 
boat approached. We looked anxiously about us for the 
sight of the one face which above all others in the world 
we were at that time the most anxious to see. And we 
did not have to look in vain, for in the first person we 
saw, we recognized the kindly, smiling face of Dr. Benze. 
He had waited for us at this place for two weeks. He 
had stood upon that pier many hours, watching each 
boat load that landed to see if he could find any traces 
of us. The joy of meeting was mutual, and our hearts 
went up in grateful thanks to God for his protecting 
care and for this manifestation of his goodness and 
grace. 

"Now,”said Dr.Benze after we had landed and passed 




Grand Oriental Hotel. 










































22 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


customs, “we will all go up to the G. 0. H. and have 
some tea.” The Grand Oriental Hotel was soon reached, 
and we found it indescribably sweet to sit down to rest 
in the spacious, airy halls of the hotel, decorated with 
palms and tropical plants, and to feel the cooling breezes 
soothing our heated brows. After resting here awhile 
we proceeded to the large English department store 
near by to buy us each a topee, a hat suited for the cli¬ 
mate of India. For in India it is impossible for Euro¬ 
peans to get along with an ordinary hat. The topees are 
made of a light, pithy substance, and though they are 
about an inch in thickness they are not heavy or un¬ 
comfortable to wear. Though the heat in India during 
the winter months is not greater than it often is in our 
country in July, the rays of the sun are so penetrating 
that Europeans would soon die of sunstroke if not pro¬ 
tected by the topee. 

Equipped in this way, we set out to see the beautiful 
city. It seemed like an enchanted place to us, every¬ 
thing was so new and strange. The commonest objects 
of everyday life seemed so strange that we involuntarily 
stopped to look at them again and again. The pa¬ 
tient little zebu oxen, hitched to the two-wheeled carts 
or bandies, the chocolate colored people in their scant 
attire, the mothers carrying their children on their hips 
instead of in front as we do, and a thousand other things, 
all strange and new, arrest your attention on every side. 
Even the white people you meet look odd to you in their 
white attire and with topees on their heads. There was 
but one thing that looked natural and homelike to us, 
and that was the advertisement of the Singer Sewing 
Machine. It was a sweet reminder of home, and we 



Road Scene in Ceylon. 













24 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


greeted it as an old friend and acquaintance. It helped 
us to realize that after all we were still on earth and 
not on a new planet.. 

The men’s attire consists of a piece of cloth wound 
about the middle of the body and reaching down below 
the knees. The women’s, of a seven-yard cloth wound 
about the waist several times, with tucks here and there, 
and reaching to the ankles; a part is thrown over the 
shoulders covering both front and back, while the end 
hangs down the back; this end may be gathered up and 
placed as a covering for the head. Thus the women are 
dressed from head to foot with one piece of cloth with¬ 
out a stitch in it. When you see these native costumes 
you naturally wonder what use they can possibly have 
for the Singer sewing machine. 

The little children, who recognize you as tourists, and 
who have learned a few English words, come smiling up 
to you and reaching out their little hands, say, “Me no 
mamma, me no papa, kind lady, kind mister, you my 
mamma, you my papa, give me a penny.” 

A very common way of seeing Colombo is to take a 
rickshaw and ride around the city. This is a little two¬ 
wheeled carriage with buggy top and shafts. But be¬ 
tween the shafts you see a man instead of a horse. The 
rickshaw man offers to take you around the city for a 
few cents. At first we hesitated to ride behind a fellow 
human being as a horse. But when we had seen women 
and young girls of twelve or thirteen years at a building 
carrying brick and mortar in baskets on their heads up 
rope ladders to the third or fourth story, and when we 
learned that they worked twelve hours a day at four 
cents a day, our scruples vanished, for the rickshaw men 


COLOMBO. 


25 



The Bristol Studio, Colombo. 

were far better off. They had lighter work and received 
much better pay. 

The rickshaw is an easy vehicle to ride in, and you 
never need to fear that your horse will take fright and 
run away. These rickshaw men are remarkable runners, 
and have a wonderful power of endurance. At a test 
made some time ago, it is said that thirteen horses were 
ridden to death, while the rickshaw men reached the 
goal in time and without feeling any the worse for the 
run. 

We each took a rickshaw and had a delightful ride 
through the city. Ceylon has been called the Paradise 
of Adam, and certain it is that few places in the world 
are more charmingly beautiful than this lovely island. 
It is especially sweet to the weary voyager, who for 
weeks has traversed the hottest seas in the world, to rest 
in the shade of the tall palm groves, to feel the cooling 
breezes on his brow, and to inhale the sweet-scented air. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 8. 




26 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


We were often reminded of Bishop Heber’s well known 
lines: 

What though the spicy breezes 
Blow soft o’er Ceylon’s isle, 

Where every prospect pleases, 

And only man is vile. 

After dinner, which is usually served at eight o’clock 
in the evening, we took a stroll along the beautiful ave¬ 
nue, skirting the surf-beaten shore, and lined with ma¬ 
jestic palms. The evening was ideal, as, indeed, the 
nights are in India and in the Orient in general. The 
heat of the day is past, the air is still, the sky is clear, 
and the stars shine with a peculiar luster. Amidst such 
delightful surroundings you could wish to stay out all 
night. No wonder that the Orientals were star-gazers 
from time immemorial, and that astronomy had its 
birth in the East. No wonder that the Bible abounds in 
such beautiful descriptions of the hosts of heaven, and 
that David bursts forth in lofty strain: “The heavens 
declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth 
his handiwork.” 

It was about ten o’clock in the evening. The moon 
was almost full and shone with wonderful brightness 
over our heads. It was a little to the north of us, and 
our shadows fell to the south. Colombo is less than 
seven degrees north of the Equator. We were often told 
in India not to be out bareheaded in the moonlight, es¬ 
pecially when the moon was at its full. In this matter, 
as in so many other experiences in India, we were re¬ 
minded that the Bible has an Oriental setting, and we 
remembered the beautiful passage of the psalmist: “The 
sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” 



Colombo Museum. 



































28 


GLTMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


The next day we took a carriage drive along the shores 
of Colombo Lake and through the celebrated Cinnamon 
Gardens, Victoria Park, and the Pettah, or native quar¬ 
ters, with their long lines of small shops, filled with 
Oriental products, and reeking with odors peculiar to the 
Orient. We also visited the magnificent museum, where 
specimens of all the varieties of the flora and the fauna 
of this wonderland may be seen. 

The Island of Ceylon is a British possession, but it is 
not a part of the Indian Empire. It forms a separate 
colony. Its greatest length from north to south is about 
280 miles, and its greatest width about 140 miles. In 
area it is nearly half the size of Illinois or Iowa. Two- 
thirds of the population belong to the Sinhalese race; 
about one-fourth are Tamils, who invaded the country 
fiom India centuries ago; the rest are Moors, Malays, 
Europeans, and Eurasians, a mixed race largely descend¬ 
ed from the old Dutch and the natives. The Sinhalese 
are an orderly and well-behaved race. In dress and ap¬ 
pearance they are easily distinguished from the Tamils. 
The men let their hair grow long and do it up in a knot, 
crowning it with a semicircular tortoise shell comb, giv¬ 
ing them a distinctively feminine appearance. 

The great mass of the people are Buddhists. This re¬ 
ligion was introduced by missionaries from India in the 
third century before Christ. There are also Hindus, 
Mohammedans, Parsees, and Christians. The greater 
part of the Christians are Catholics, their church dating 
from the Portuguese occupation of the land in the six¬ 
teenth century. 

In regard to climate Ceylon is one of the most favored 
countries in the world. Though lying further south than 



The Colpetty Bazar, Colombo. 



















30 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


India, it has a milder and more equable climate. This 
is owing, in part, to its nearness to the sea; no part of 
the island is a hundred miles from the coast. The in¬ 
terior is high and mountainous and has a temperate cli¬ 
mate the year around, no scorching sun, no biting frost 

We would have liked to have spent a week or two on 
this lovely island, and to have made a trip into the in¬ 
terior, to the old capital of Kandy, located on a moun¬ 
tain near the center of the island and said to be one of 
the most beautiful cities in the world. Another point of 
interest to visit would have been the Peak of Adam, also 
located in the interior, but further south. The shadow 
of this peak may sometimes be seen at sunrise upon the 
clouds forming a fleecy background to the mountain. 
On the summit of the peak is a gigantic imprint of what 
appears to be a human foot. The Buddhists claim it as 
the footprint of Buddha, the Hindus as that of Siva, 
and the Mohammedans claim it for Adam. The tradi¬ 
tion of the latter is that after the fall, Adam was placed 
in Ceylon and Eve in Arabia. For two hundred years 
thev were separated, and after this period of expiation, 
they were permitted to meet near Mecca. The peak is, 
therefore, regarded as sacred and as a place of pilgrim¬ 
age by three great religions of the world, embracing 
over 900,000,000 people or more than half of the human 
family. A third point of interest for us to have visited 
would have been the buried city of Anuradhapura in the 
north, one of the celebrated ruins in the world, telling 
the story of an ancient civilization and of an age before 
the time of Christ. 

But our duties called us to the mainland of India, and 
we were compelled to leave this charming place at once. 


COLOMBO. 


31 


Before we left, however, we visited the mission of the 
Church of Sweden on this island. The work was in 
charge of a native pastor named T. Mnttiappen. We 
called at his home and met him and his wife and chil¬ 
dren. Here we heard for the first time the native greet¬ 
ing Salaam, to which we became so accustomed after¬ 
wards in India. The word is used both when you come 
and when you go. It is also used to express gratitude 
or thanks, for which some of the native languages have 
no equivalent. There are over 150 languages and dia¬ 
lects spoken in India, but the word Salaam is used in 
all of them. It is a Semitic word and means peace. 
It was probably introduced by the Mohammedan con¬ 
querors in the eleventh century. 




CHAPTER III. 

Madura. 

Having said Salaam to Ceylon, we took sail, at six 
o’clock in the evening of Dec. 7th, for Tuticorin, near 
the southern point of India. The passage requires only 
fourteen hours, hut though so short, it is often dreaded 
more than any other part of the voyage to India, for, 
like the British Channel, it is nearly always rough and 
stormy, and the shores of southern India are very shal¬ 
low so that ocean steamers cannot approach within five 
or six miles of the land. The rest of the way has to 
be made in small steam launches, and w r hen the wind 
is high and the sea rough the landing is both difficult 
and dangerous. 

We had the good fortune, however, of having fine 
weather and a quiet sea, and thus effected our landing 
with ease and safety. We passed customs without any 
inconvenience, and our baggage, carried on the heads 
of native porters, was soon placed on board the train, 
which stood waiting for the passengers from the ship. 

A number of attendants stood around, offering to 
conduct us to the train. We engaged the services of one 
of them and placed a few annas in his hand. An anna 



MADURA. 


33 


is two cents of our money. We were soon rewarded in 
securing two very comfortable compartments, or little 
rooms, with a door between them. Dr. Benze and my¬ 
self occupied one, and Mrs. Foss and Martha occupied 
the other. These compartments were furnished with 
two wide upholstered seats about six feet long, and if 
you had a pillow and a blanket with you, you could en¬ 
joy the comforts of a sleeper. 

Various English syndicates have built over thirty 
thousand miles of railroad in India, connecting the dif¬ 
ferent parts, and extending to all the important cities. 
These roads are well managed, and you can travel in 
India with as much ease and comfort as in this coun¬ 
try. The main trains run from thirty to fifty miles an 
hour, but stop longer at stations than what is custom¬ 
ary in this country. 

In relief the country through which we passed did 
not look very different from Illinois or Iowa. There 
were smooth plains and, here and there, low hills and 
rolling country. Instead of corn or wheat fields there 
were rice and cholam fields. The latter is a grain re¬ 
sembling in its growth our broomcorn. It is used as 
an article of food principally by the poorer people. The 
leading trees in this section of the country are the pal¬ 
myra and the banana palm. There is also a species of 
palm-like cactus, used very largely for hedges. 

Our first trip took us north into the interior from 
Tnticorin to Madura, a distance of about a hundred 
miles. It required about four hours. 

Madura is one of the oldest cities in the world. It 
is believed to have been a city of culture and commerce 
in the days of Solomon. It is inhabited almost wholly 


34 


GLIMrSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


by natives of the Tamil race. The Europeans consist 
of a few English officials and some missionaries and 
their families. Though it is a place of over 104,000 
inhabitants it does not contain a single hotel. This is 
the case with all the native cities in India where the 
Europeans are few and where tourists’ visits are not 
frequent. Travelers in such parts of India will either 
have to stop with the missionaries or have servants with 
them, who carry the bedding and household utensils 
along. They put up at government rest-houses, which 
are substantial bungalows built by the government here 
and there throughout the country for the benefit of 
English officials or collectors on their tours through the 
districts. There is a kitchen, a dining room with table 
and chairs, and bedrooms with chairs and bedsteads. The 
servants very quickly make the beds and spread the 
table and convert the empty rest-house into an impro¬ 
vised hotel. There is no charge for the use of the build¬ 
ing, but when you leave you pay the janitor a small 
sum for his trouble. 

During the last few years the railroad companies 
have arranged for lodging and a lunch room in the de¬ 
pots, or station houses, but as a rule they are limited 
in capacity and are usually overcrowded. 

We had no servants, and as the station accomoda¬ 
tions were all taken, we had to resort to the mission¬ 
aries. Having first seen that our baggage was safely 
deposited in the baggage room, we looked about us for 
some white face, or European, to whom we could turn 
for information and be understood. But our search 
was in vain. There were hundreds of people around 
us—men, women, and children, but they were all of 


MADURA. 


35 


a chocolate color ancl attired in scanty native costumes. 
They all spoke the Tamil and could not understand a 
word of English. 

At length the thought occurred to us that perhaps 
the ticket agent understood English. So we addressed 
ourselves to him and asked if he spoke English. He 
only shook his head. This did not mean no, for in 
India people often do things in a way contrary to ours. 
So we asked him if he could tell us where the Luther¬ 
an mission was. 

“Yes”, he said in good English, “it is a mile and a 
half out this way”, pointing to the northwest. “You 
better go into the street and get a jutka man to take 
you over there.” 

We thanked him for his kindness and returned to 
the waiting room. Here Mrs. Foss and Martha re¬ 
mained while Dr. Benze and myself went out to get a 
jutka man to take us to the Lutheran station, or com¬ 
pound, as they call it in India. Now, a jutka is a little 
two-wheeled cart with a woven palmleaf top. Four 
persons may be crowded into it, but they have to sit on 
the floor, for as a rule there are no seats. The top is 
low and you often have to sit stooping. To the cart 
is usually hitched a hungry looking pony or a little 
zebu ox. 

We bargained with our jutka man, using the sign 
language mostly, and he shook his head, indicating that 
he understood. So off we started, but in the opposite 
direction to which we were to go. At first we thought, 
of course, that he would turn bv and by, but as he 
didn’t we began remonstrating with him and pointing 
in the direction in which we wanted to go, at the same 


36 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


time repeating the words “Lutheran Mission.” But 
he only shook his head and smiled and drove on. A 
second and third time we remonstrated with him, but 
with no better result. 

Finally he got off and motioned to us to get out. 
We did so. Before us stood a Christian church with 
two steeples, each surmounted with a cross. We walked 
up to it, found the door unlocked, and looked in. We 
saw tapers burning before an image of the Virgin and 
some other saints, and realized that we were in a Cath¬ 
olic church. We turned and walked out. Near the 
church was a large bungalow with a wide veranda. 
Presently a man appeared upon the veranda, and we 
saw by his dress and appearance. that he was a priest. 
We asked him whether this was not a Catholic com¬ 
pound, and he answered, “Yes”. Then said we, “Can 
you tell us where the Lutheran compound is ?” 

He said, “Yes, it is three miles out that way”, point¬ 
ing toward the northwest. 

“Well”, said we, “will you please tell this jutka man 
to take us there, and tell him the way.” 

“Yes, sir”, he replied, and then spoke a few words 
of Tamil to the man, who only shook his head as be¬ 
fore. We said, “Good day”, and scrambled into our 
jutka once more. 

The next time we stopped we were again in front of a 
church. This time it was the “Badschanya Kowil,” or 
Salvation church, built by Dr. C. J. Sandegren in 1893. 
About 100 yards from the church stood a beautiful 
bungalow, with a gravel walk leading up to it. We 
paid our jutka man the stipulated sum, but he was not 


MADURA. 


37 


satisfied. He wanted double pay for having taken us 

so far. 

On the veranda of the bungalow sat a man writing. 
He did not notice our approach until we reached the 
step. He looked around and was surprised to see Euro- 



The Lutheran Church in Madura. 









38 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


peans and strangers before him. His surprise was 
heightened still more when I addressed him in Swedish 
and asked if this was the Eeverend Theodore Blom- 
strand. He said, “Yes,” and we told him who we were. 

“Oh, yes!” he exclaimed, “I have seen in the papers 
that you were coming to India, but I never thought 
that we should have the pleasure of seeing you here. 
You will be our guests while you stay in Madura.” 

We explained to him that we were four in our com¬ 
pany. 

“I am sorry,” he said, “that there are so many mis¬ 
sionaries staying here at present that we are not able to 
entertain you all in a proper way, but I am sure the 
missionaries of the American Board will be glad to en¬ 
tertain two of you. As soon as we have had tiffin I 
will take you up there. In the meantime I will have 
my horse hitched up. Please come and have tiffin with 
us.” 

Tiffin is afternoon tea, but in this case it turned out 
to be afternoon coffee. At the table we met Mrs. Blom- 
strand and three of the other missionaries at the station 
— Bev. Victor Johnsson, who had recently arrived from 
Sweden and was studying Tamil; Miss Pauline Karl- 
mark, who was in charge of the Girls’ School; and Miss 
Maria Peterson, who was engaged in learning the lan¬ 
guage preparatory to work. We have learned with sor¬ 
row that Miss Peterson has since died. 

The carriage was now ready, and we drove first to 
the station to let Mrs. Foss and Martha know that we 
were not lost, for they had been anxiously waiting there 
all this time and wondering what had become of us. 

The friends at the American Mission were very hos- 


MADURA. 


39 


pitable indeed, and it was arranged that Mrs. Foss and 
Martha were to stay there and be the guests of Miss 
Swift. Here they received a most hearty welcome and 
were at once made to feel at home. Dr. Benze and I 
were entertained at the Lutheran station. We thus 
divided our visit between these two groups of friends, 
with each of whom we were united — with the one in a 
common home, with the other in a common faith. 

We spent four delightful days with these kind friends, 
who took us around and showed us their schools, church¬ 
es, and other institutions and explained to us their 
methods of doing work. Rev. Blomstrand took us to 
Virudupati, a station 28 miles south of Madura, where 
we met the oldest Swedish missionary in India, the Rev. 
I)r. C. J. Sandegren, and his son, the Rev. Johannes 
Sandegren. The cosmopolitan character of the mis¬ 
sionaries in India was well illustrated in this cultured 
home. Dr. Sandegren as well as his wife, who is the 
daughter of a German missionary, speaks Swedish, Ger¬ 
man, English, and Tamil with fluency and ease; and 
Dr. Sandegren remarked that they often start a con¬ 
versation in Swedish, continue it in German, break off 
into English, and finish it up in Tamil without being 
aware of the changes in language. We also learned in 
our further visits at various mission stations that it 
makes little difference by what nationality or church 
the mission work is carried on, it is conducted on the 
same plan and in much the same way. Among the 
people and in the lower schools the vernacular is used 
exclusively, and in the higher instruction English is 
also taught. All the missionaries of whatever nation¬ 
ality speak English. 


40 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Madura is one of the chief mission stations of the 
Swedish Church in South India. Until 1901 the Swe¬ 
dish Church carried on its mission work jointly with 
the Germans through the Leipzig Mission Society. 
Since the above date the Swedish Church has had its 
own separate field. The Rev. Theodore Blomstrand 
is the son of the celebrated missionary A. Blomstrand 
and was born in Tranquebar, India. 

It is also the chief station of the American Board. 
The work was begun nearly eighty years ago. It is one 
of the best established missions in India. Besides the 
ordinary mission schools, they have a High school, a 
College, and a Theological Seminary. They have a hos¬ 
pital for women and children and also one for men. The 
latter class of hospitals is not often seen on mission 
fields in India. 

One of the most distinguished missionaries of this 
field is Dr. J. P. Jones, whose works on India are well 
known to all students and friends of missions. One of 
the best informed missionaries on the field is Miss Swift, 
who has grown gray in the service of this mission. She 
gave us a careful description of mission work in India in 
general and dwelt more particularly upon her own de¬ 
partment, the Bible Woman’s Work. She instructs and 
directs a force of native Bible women, through whose 
efforts 4,000 caste homes in and around Madura are 
regularly visited. In the course of her remarks she said, 
“We do not need so many missionaries. It is not a 
question of number. It is one of ability.” 

At first her statement seemed new and strange to me. 
I had always heard the cry that more and more mission¬ 
aries were needed. But after a more careful study of 


MADURA. 


41 


the mission problems, I began to see that there was 
much truth in what she said. When a mission is new 
it needs a comparatively large number of missionaries, 
but when the work is well established, with the necessary 
schools for training native workers, a comparatively 
small number of European or American missionaries is 
needed. It is then, however, that the need of the ablest 
men and women becomes more and more apparent. It 
is too expensive to keep a large army of European or 
American missionaries on the field, and the climate does 
not agree with them. In the long run the work must 
be done by the natives themselves. They can do it better 
than we can; they know their language and their people 
better than we do. Hence, the importance of training a 
large number af native workers, and teaching them how 
to conduct church work. Here wise direction and large 
sums are needed, and it will no doubt be a long time 
before the church in India, or in any other heathen land, 
can direct and finance its own work. 

Madura furnishes excellent opportunities for study¬ 
ing the social and religious life of the natives of South 
India. A large part of the population are Pariahs, or 
outcastes, who are among the poorest and most oppressed 
people in the world. Their wages, when they can get 
work, hardly enable them to keep body and soul to¬ 
gether. Their miserable huts are of the smallest and 
crudest form and of earthen structure. Their clothing 
consists of a single piece of cheap cotton cloth, and 
many are too poor to afford a change of even this simple 
garment. Women may be seen at the river bank or at 
tanks standing in the water, washing the half of this 
cloth and holding it in the sun to dry, then deftly wind- 


Glimpses of three Continents. 4 . 


42 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


ing this pait around them, they unwind the other part 
and wash it. 

No city furnishes better native street scenes than 
Madura. Place yourself at the upper end of a street 
and look out upon a stretch of a mile or two of native 
thoroughfare. You see before you a stream of human be¬ 
ings, thousands and thousands of them filling the en¬ 
tire street, for there are no sidewalks. They are con¬ 
tinually shifting from side to side, and clad as they are 
in all the colors of the rainbow, they furnish you a real 
living kaleidoscope. 

There are a number of remarkable structures in this 
ancient city, well worth a careful study. Among these 
the Palace of Tirumalai Nayak occupies a foremost 
place. It was erected by this celebrated prince during 
the first half of the seventeenth century. It is built of 
brick and is plastered within and without. It is pro¬ 
fusely ornamented with casts of monsters and mytholog¬ 
ical characters. The British government has taken 
possession of it, and the most hideous and objectionable 
figures have been removed. It has been converted into 
a government building, and as such, it ranks among the 
first in India. There are many halls, corridors, and 
rooms, and an immense number of columns and arches, 
all of magnificent proportions. The whole structure is 
a marvel of architectural beauty, and a monument to the 
wealth and power of its builder and the high culture of 
the Tamil nation. 

When visiting this wonderful structure we had for a 
guide a native Christian, a man of culture and intelli¬ 
gence, belonging to Miss SwifPs household. He con¬ 
ducted us through the palace and finally took us to the 


MADURA. 


43 



top of the immense structure, where there were acres of 
flat roofs and lofty towers. From these elevated prom¬ 
enades we had a magnificent view of the city at our feet 


The Interior of the Palace of Tirumalai Nayak. 




















44 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


and of the surrounding country, with its strangely iso¬ 
lated bluffs and rock formations, whose shapes are in¬ 
dicated by the native names — the cow, the serpent, the 
elephant, etc. Around each of these there cluster many 
ancient traditions, which our guide took great interest 
in rehearsing to us. Most of them commemorate the 
services of Meenatchi, the chief demon goddess of the 
place. Thus it is said that long ages ago a huge monster 
in the shape of an elephant came to swallow up the city, 
but Meenatchi graciously changed him into a mountain. 
A monster serpent and a monster cow were treated in 
the same way. 

The earliest religion of the Dravidian people of India, 
as of the Sumerians of early Babylonia, was no doubt 
a system of spirit-worship. As the good spirits were not 
feared, their worship was gradually neglected, while all 
efforts were directed towards appeasing or circumvent¬ 
ing the evil spirits. Thus there arose a system of devil- 
worship, while the belief in the good spirits passed en¬ 
tirely into the background. This system of devil-wor¬ 
ship has lived on through all the changing conditions of 
India, so that while there are traces of a belief in benef¬ 
icent gods, it is safe to say that ninety per cent, of the 
people of India to-day worship only gods of terror. Such 
a system of religion is, of course, entirely divorced from 
all ideas of justice and morality. 

Madura was one of the leading centers of .this early 
religion, and Meenatchi, as we have already said, was the 
chief demon goddess. When the Aryan conquerors came 
with their Brahmanical religion, they did not suppress 
or antagonize this old religion of the people, but ab¬ 
sorbed it or incorporated it into their faith. This pro- 


MADURA. 


45 


cess of absorption is symbolized by the tradition of the 
marriage of Meenatchi to the Brahmanical god Siva. 

Madura is still a chief center of this Siva-Meenatchi 
cult. Here stands one of the oldest and largest temples 
in the world. It is dedicated to S'iva and Meenatchi. 
Its history carries us back to centuries before Christ, 
but its present form and proportions date from the reign 
of the prince already referred to, Tirumalai Kayak. In 
size it ranks as the third temple in the world, but in its 
beauty and workmanship it surpasses the other two, 
which are also found in South India. With its sacred 
tank, halls, shrines, and courts it covers an area of over 
fifteen acres. It is built entirely of granite and marble, 
some of the granite blocks measure sixty feet in length. 
It is ornamented by nine immense gopuras, or towers, 
rising to a height of nearly two hundred feet. These 
towers are of a semi-pyramidal shape and are wonder¬ 
fully decorated with carvings or sculptures of Oriental 
designs in almost infinite detail. 

But wonderful as this temple is to view from the 
outside, it is still more wonderful inside. It is a per¬ 
fect labyrinth of courts, halls, corridors, shrines, and 
altars. Pillars, walls, and ceilings are ornamented with 
sculptures of all manner of mythological figures. In 
the outer halls and courts bazars and booths are found 
where fruits, nuts, grains, jewelry, and all sorts of 
trinkets are sold. In the center of the temple is an 
open court containing a large pool or tank, where peo¬ 
ple may bathe and drink. Along the side of one of the 
long halls is a small tank containing holy water. The 
water is composed of various kinds of liquid ingredi¬ 
ents, in which the gods have been washed at regular 


46 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


intervals, and which have afterwards been drained into 
this tank. Drinking this water purifies from all sin. 
The water has a most offensive, fetid smell, which is 
apt to keep unbelievers at a safe distance from it. There 
is a hall of a “thousand columns,” where pilgrims are 
lodged. Images of the sacred elephant and of the 



The Golden IAly Tank in the Meenatchi Temple. 










MADURA. 


47 


sacred bull are numerous, and living specimens of these 
animals are permitted to roam at will throughout the 
temple. 

There are shrines sacred to various gods and goddesses, 
those of Siva, Meenatchi, and Ganesha, or the elephant 
god, being the most important. These shrines or altars 
are approached through long archways. You may stand 
at the entrance of these archways and look through the 
shadows, for they are dimly lighted, to the further end, 
where you see a beautifully wrought altar with a series 
of arches over it, all set with numberless little lamps 
with tiny wicks, emitting a flame smaller than that of 
our Christmas-tree candles. The beautiful effect of 
these little twinkling lights, seen through the inter¬ 
vening gloom, cannot be described. There is an Orien¬ 
tal charm about it, and for the moment, you may im¬ 
agine yourself in a dream or in fairyland. But when 
you look upon the dark pavement between you and the 
altar you see scores of people lying prostrate, worshiping 
some demon-god. 

To some of the most sacred places in this temple no 
European or low-caste man has ever been admitted. 
Some years ago the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward 
VII, visited this temple, but admission to these most 
sacred places was lefused even him. And if King 
George V, though styled Emperor of India, should 
visit Madura to-day, he too would be barred out. Eng¬ 
land wisely respects the religious scruples and super¬ 
stitions of the Hindu people. 

We were conducted through the wonderful temple by 
Prof. W. M. Zumbro, of the American Board, who has 
charge of the Mission College at Madura, and who is 


48 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


well informed on the subject of Hindu temples. As we 
walked through these sacred places, we were impressed 
with the fact that the old religion of India is not dead, 
and that it wields a tremendous influence over the three 
hundred millions of her people. We were also deeply 
impressed with the fact that in its ceremonies and prac¬ 
tices the early Mediaeval Church was powerfully influ¬ 
enced by pagan, and especially Oriental, cults and that 
much of this element remains in the Eoman Church to 
this day. 

As we gazed upon the numberless images of gods and 
monsters, we looked in vain for any image that might 
embody the sentiment of love or sympathy; for the 
Hindu religion, as we have already remarked, is a re¬ 
ligion of terror. 




CHAPTER IV. 

Trichinopoly and Tanjore. 

It was Saturday, Dec. 12. The time had come for us 
to continue our journey. We spent part of the fore¬ 
noon in bidding our kind friends at the two missions 
farewell, and two o’clock in the afternoon found us once 
more at the depot, waiting for the train to carry us 
away. Our next stopping place was Trichinopoly, about 
a hundred miles north of Madura. We had expected to 
reach it before dark, but our train was two hours behind 
time, and before we reached our destination night came 
on. This was a great disappointment to us, for Trichin¬ 
opoly is a large place of over a hundred thousand in¬ 
habitants, and, like Madura, it is largely a native city 
without hotels and street lighting. To find one’s way in 
such a place or to hunt a mission station after dark is 
not an easy matter, especially when you do not know 
a word of the language. 

Presently the train stopped, and 1 looked at my watch 
and said, “This must be Trichinopoly.” So 1 leaned 
out through, the window and asked a trainman, who 
stood near, what place this was. He gave a name that 
sounded new and strange to me, and I said to our party, 


50 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


“No, this is not Trichinopoly, I expect we shall have to 
wait till we reach the next station.” 

But just then some one looked in through our window 
and asked, “Is Professor Foss here?” 

I was not a little surprised to hear my name spoken 
by some one in this strange place, but I stepped forward 
and said, “Yes, sir.” 

“Well,” he said, “this is Trichinopoly, and my name 
is Goettsching.” 

We gathered up our grips and other hand baggage, 
and in another instant we stood on the station platform 
shaking hands with Rev. Goettsching, who greeted us 
with a frank and hearty welcome. 

Our good friend, Rev. Blomstrand of Madura, had 
written to Rev. Goettsching, informing him of our com¬ 
ing, and he, accordingly, met us with several servants 
and three carriages or vehicles for us and our baggage. 
All our anxiety was at an end. 

Before long we reached the mission bungalow, where 
we met Mrs. Goettsching. Dinner had been waiting 
for us for some time, so we were soon seated around the 
table, where we ate and chatted until near midnight. 

The next day was our first Sunday in India. We all 
went to the Lutheran church. In India the morning 
services are held early, about eight or half past eight 
o’clock, as the heat gets more oppressive later in the 
day. When we arrived the people had already assem¬ 
bled. As we entered the church we found the men and 
boys seated in pews on our right hand and the women 
and girls seated on the floor to the left. As a rule 
there are no pews in the churches in India. The natives 
prefer to sit on the floor or, as the case generally is, 


TRICHINOPOLY AND TANJORE. 


51 


on the ground. Palmleaf mats are sometimes spread 
out to sit on. 

It is the policy of missionaries throughout India in 
general not to interfere with the native customs, habits, 
and modes of life wherever they are not inconsistent 
with the spirit and doctrines of Christianity or with a 
Christian life. That Christianity will become the relig¬ 
ion of India is certain, and that the influence of Chris¬ 
tianity and of Western life and thought will bring about 
great social and industrial changes is also certain. But 
India will never be Europeanized. Our modes of life, 
habits, and customs are not suited to the climate of 
India. Their customs are indigenous to the soil. They 
have grown up in the course of centuries and are not 
easily changed. The immense population, too, would ren¬ 
der changes slow and difficult. In many cases, too, 
changes would not be desirable. The church in India 
will be a native church. It must adapt itself to native 
conditions. It is for this reason that the Leipzig mis¬ 
sion recognizes caste among its converts. They admit 
that the system is evil and contrary to the spirit of 
Christianity, but leave it to the church to eradicate it 
as it has done with slavery in the West. Other missions 
hold that caste is so diametrically opposed to Christian¬ 
ity that it can not be recognized within the church or 
among the members. 

The services, of course, were conducted entirely in 
the Tamil tongue. The liturgical part was conducted 
by a native assistant, who was dressed in the native 
style and stood barefoot before the congregation. At 
first it offended our ideas of the fitness of things to see 
the native pastors stand barefoot before the altar, or 


52 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


go barefoot into the pulpit, but before long we got so 
used to seeing it that it seemed the natural and proper 
thing for them to do. As many of the worshipers could 
not read, the assistant recited each verse of the hymn 
before it was sung. The whole congregation — men, 
women, and children — joined in the singing with 
force and spirit. It was a reverent and well-behaved 
congregation. The organist was a native. The sermon 
was preached by Eev. Goettsching. He wore a white 
gown. This is a common custom in India. 

After the services we met two deaconesses, S'ister 
Aurelia Herget and Sister Emma Karberg, who are en¬ 
gaged in teaching and in zenana work. We also met 
two native male teachers of the Lutheran schools here 
and a theological student from the seminary at Tran- 
quebar, who was to be ordained to the ministry the fol¬ 
lowing month. When we met the natives in this way, 
we at first involuntarily presented the hand. This we 
should not have done. Handshaking is not used in 
India. The natives have an aversion to it, and to the 
caste people it is an abomination. They are so polite, 
however, that when you offer your hand they take it as 
if it were the right and proper thing to do. The native 
way of greeting is simply to bring your right hand to 
vour forehead and with a slight bow say “S'alaam.” We 
soon learned the custom, and before we left India, we 
could salaam as naturally as any of them. 

During our stay at Trichinopoly, Eev. Goettsching 
was untiring in showing us the places and objects of 
interest in the city. Trichinopoly is an historic place, 
the scene of the struggle between the French and the 
English a hundred and sixty years ago. There is still 



The Rock of Trichinopoly 

















54 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


a fort within the city. But the most interesting object 
of the place is no doubt the bald rock in the midst of 
the city, rising abruptly from the surrounding plain to 
a height of 273 feet. It is known as the Rock of Trich- 
inopoly. There are temples along the sides of the rock, 
half hewn and half built, with chambers, galleries, 
stairs, and staircases, hewn and tunneled in the rock. 
There is a small temple at the top, which can be 
reached only by steps cut in the native rock. 

Rev. Goettsching conducted us through these temples 
and passages to the temple at the summit, where we had 
an excellent view of the city and the country for miles 
around. At the northern base of the rock flows a river, 
and in the river is an island, and on this island is 
located the largest temple in the world. It is said to 
cover an area of thirty acres. It is dedicated to the god 
Vishnu and is known as the Great Temple of Sri 
Rangatn. It contains twenty-one towers and is sur¬ 
rounded by seven different walls, the outer one being 
twenty feet high and five miles in circuit. 

Near the foot of the rock, on the west side, stands 
an old church with a memorial tablet at the front end 
near the door, informing us that the church was dedi¬ 
cated by Christian Frederick Schwartz, May 18, 1766, 
the grounds having been presented by the Nabob of the 
Carnatic. To the right of the church is an arched 
stand, or platform, bearing a memorial inscription to 
the effect that from this stand Bishop Reginald Heber 
delivered his last address shortly before his death, in 
1826. Bishop Heber, as we know, was the author of the 
missionary hymn, 

“From Greenland’s icy mountains. 

From India’s coral strand.” 


T RICH I NOPOLY AND TANJORE. 


55 


And now, ? said Rev. Goettsching, “there are some 
Mohammedan tombs near by that you ought to see too.” 
We agreed, and in a few minutes we stood before the 



Entrance to the Temple of Sri Rangam. 









56 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


ancient vaults. But the guard informed us that before 
we could enter the sacred precincts, we would have to 
remove our shoes from our feet. After some delibera¬ 
tion, we finally submitted to this ordeal, and our shoes 
were left outside while we walked in our stockings into 
the vaults. Our guide at the tombs spoke very poor 
English, and we were not able to make out what he 
meant to tell us about the historical significance of these 
sacred relics. 

Behind these tombs was a mosque. This we also 
wanted to sec. Beside the mosque was a large tank or 
reservoir, perhaps an acre in extent. It was filled with 
water, which had been standing in the sun for weeks 
and months until it was covered with a scum of green 
and yellow. When we asked if we might enter the 
mosque, the attendant said, “Yes, but first you must 
bathe in that tank.” 

“And do you think we’ll be cleaner then?” I asked. 

But he replied in a dignified manner, “It is part of 
our religion, sir.” 

It was not a question of being physically, but of being 
ceremonially clean. This idea of cleanliness you meet 
everywhere in the East. You meet it first in Egypt and 
the Holy Land and then all the way to India and be¬ 
yond. The Hindu’s ideas of cleanliness are very differ¬ 
ent from ours. We frequently saw people — scores at a 
time — bathing in a river or in a tank and drinking the 
water at the same time. Nearby might be a dhoby man, 
or laundry-man, washing clothes in the same water. 
From this same tank water is carried home for drinking 
and cooking purposes. I have seen intelligent natives 
stoop down and dip water to drink from puddles in the 


TKICHIN OPOL Y AND TAN JOKE. 


57 


road. How can they drink such filth and still keep well ? 
The medical missionaries say that it is due to the sun. 
The native is out in the sun with little clothing on from 
morning till night, and this no doubt makes him im¬ 
mune to the disease germs. 

Many stories abound, illustrating the native’s idea of 
cleanliness. The following is told as a true story: A 
missionary’s wife, who had not yet become accustomed 
to the ways of the country, went into the kitchen one 
day to see how her cook prepared the savory dishes he 
placed on her table. She had no sooner entered, how¬ 
ever, than she shrank back and cried, “David, David, 
are you straining my coffee through my stocking!” But 
David quickly assured her that no harm was done since 
it was a dirty one. 

But I am digressing. It is needless to say that we 
did not enter the mosque. 

We had been invited by the two sisters to afternoon 
coffee, and it was now near sunset. So we left the Mo¬ 
hammedan mosque and tombs and hastened to the mis¬ 
sion orphan home, where the two sisters occupied rooms 
on the second floor. There was a large balcony, com¬ 
manding a fine view of the street, and there we sat en¬ 
joying our afternoon coffee. As we were talking back 
and forth about the interesting things we had seen that 
afternoon, there suddenly burst upon our ears a strange 
weird noise. At first it seemed far away, but it came 
nearer and increased in volume. It was not one noise, 
but twenty noises combined. There was the tom-tom, 
or native drum, and peihaps a score of other vocal and 
instrumental noises. We looked to Mr. Groettsching and 
asked, “What is it?” 

Glimpses of three Continents. 5. 


58 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


And Mr. Goettsching said, “It’s a funeral. There 
have been some cases of cholera in the city, and a caste 
man died from it to-day. They are now taking his body 
to the burning ground to burn it. As he was a man of 
some prominence they are taking him through the dif¬ 
ferent parts of the city. They may keep this up the 
greater part of the night. They often make the night 
hideous in this way. The heathen do rage.” 

“But,” said we, “will it not tend to spread the plague 
to carry the body around through the streets in this 
way?” 

“Oh, yes,” he replied, “but it can not be stopped.” 

By this time the procession had reached the place 
where we were, and we had a full view of the ghastly 
sight. The dead man was carried with bare face and 
in a sitting position, in a litter on the shoulders of 
four men, while the multitudes followed, weeping and 
wailing, and making the hideous noises just described. 

On our way back to the mission bungalow, we were 
lighted by the stars and escorted by a watchman. This 
watchman belonged to the Ivoler or robber caste, whose 
members according to caste rules must engage in the 
practice of thieving. Bev. Goettsching informed us that 
the missionaries in this part of India usually employed 
members of this caste as watchmen, as they were the 
most skilful and reliable guards and detectives. Even 
the British government makes use of these men for this 
purpose. 

Mr. and Mrs. Goettsching proved themselves excel¬ 
lent hosts, and it was not without a feeling of regret 
that we bade them farewell. 

A two hours’ run brought us to Tanjore. Here, too, 


TRIOHINOPOLY AND TANJORE. 


59 


our coming had been announced beforehand by Rev. 
Blomstrand, and the missionary in charge of this sta¬ 
tion? Rev. Richard Froelich, met us at the depot with 
a jutka and took us to the mission bungalow, where we 
met Mrs. Froelich and two of her children. 

After breakfast, which it will be remembered is 
served about noon, we went out to see the place. Tan¬ 
jore is one of the chief scenes of the labors of the great 
missionary Christian Frederick Schwartz. His old 
church at this place is still standing and is now in the 
possession of the Church of England. The S. P. C. K. 
(Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge) 
supported Schwartz’s work after 1762. The S. P. G. 
(Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) succeeded 
in 1826. The church was built in 17.79. A tablet to 
the memory of the great missionary was placed in the 
church by the Rajah of Tanjore, Maharajah Sirfojee. 

Tanjore with the surrounding villages has a large 
Christian population. “Here is the strength of Chris¬ 
tianity in India,” said Bishop Heber in 1826. There 
are about 1,000 Lutheran Christians in and around 
Tanjore. The Lutheran church at this place was built 
by the Swedish missionary, Rev. C. A. Ouchterlony, 
who died at Tranquebar in 1889. 

The Lutheran Girls’ High School, located here, is in 
charge of Sister Emma von Soden, whom we had the 
pleasure of meeting. The Boys’ High School is under 
the supervision of Rev. Gustav Heidenreich. The latter 
proved himself a most entertaining companion. He 
seemed to have an inexhaustible fund of stories illustrat¬ 
ing life in India. Among other experiences he told us 
the following: His boarding-school boys were troubled 


60 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


with small vermin, which disturbed their sleep. When 
they complained to him he said, “Very well, I will give 
you an anna for every hundred you catch and bring me.” 
The boys secured a number of small vials from the lab¬ 
oratory, and the next morning they brought him ninety 
vials, each containing one hundred specimens. Mr. 
Heidenreich paid the boys the ninety annas, or $1.80, as 
he had agreed, and on the following morning asked them 



A Tamil drinking. 






TUICIIl NOPOLY AND TAN .TORE. 


G1 


how they had slept. The reply was that they had not 
been troubled at all. After a week or two, however, they 
complained again. Mr. Heidenreich, however, did not 
care for any more specimens, but told the boys that they 
knew now what to do if they wanted to sleep in peace. 

In the evening we went down to the dormitory to 
see the boys eat their dinner. The caste boys occupied 
one part of the hall and the outcastes another. They 
were distributed in little groups, each boy with a bowl 
of curry and rice before him. They used their fingers 
instead of spoons. Each group had a large cup con¬ 
taining drinking water. In drinking they did not 
touch the cup with their lips, but threw the head back 
and poured the water into their mouths. They never 



Temple of Subramanya at Tanjore. 






0 2 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



Colossal Statue of a Sacred Bull. 


missed. Said Mr. Heidenreich to me, “You couldn’t 
do that.” When their meal was finished they gathered 
in one place. We spoke a few words of encouragement 
to them, and they sang us a song in the Tamil tongue. 

There is an ancient library in Tanjore, containing no 
less than 18,000 Sanscrit books. About 8,000 of these 
books consist of palm leaves about eighteen inches long 
and one and a half or two inches wide. The inscription 
is made with a sharp iron stylus. The leaves are per¬ 
forated near the two ends and strung on sticks. They 
are then tied together between two bamboo splits, and 
each bunch constitutes a volume. 

Tanjore also contains one of the largest and most re- 




TUICIII NOPOLY AND TAN JOllE. 


63 


markable temples of India. Its foundation dates from 
the eleventh century, hut tlie more recent structure was 
completed by a king of the Mahratta dynasty in the 
sixteenth century. It contains two high pagoda-shaped 
towers and several smaller ones. The sculptures in this 
temple are considered the best specimens of Dravidian 
art. In one of the courts within the sacred enclosure 
is a colossal sculpture of a sacred bull. It is cut out of 
an immense black rock and is polished to the smooth¬ 
ness of glass. Mr. Froelich served us as escort and guide 
during our visit to this temple. There were certain 
places here as at Madura that we were not allowed to 
enter. 




CHAPTER V. 

Mayavaram and Tranquebar. 

At 9 :13 in the evening of December 14tli we bade 
farewell to our friends at Tanjore and took the train for 
Mayavaram. After a little over two hours we arrived 
at our destination. Rev. Henry Richard Hoffmann met 
us at the station with a carriage of a kind found no¬ 
where else in India. It had been made to order after 
a pattern of carriages used in the Baltic Provinces of 
Russia, for Mr. Hoffmann is a native of Esthonia and a 
graduate of the University of Dorpat. Dinner was wait¬ 
ing for us, but as it was near midnight we partook of it 
lightly. Mrs. Hoffmann is a very pleasant woman. Like 
her husband, she is a native of the Baltic Provinces and 
speaks English fluently. 

The next day we visited the various departments of 
mission work at this station as we had done at other 
places. There was a girls’ orphan home. It contained 
about 80 orphans, some little tots, others full-grown. 
We saw them at their work, hulling rice, shredding 
coconut shells, and braiding palm leaves into matting. 
We also saw them play the “stick game” and heard 
them sing a number af native songs. Great care is ex¬ 
ercised in selecting husbands for these girls. Many of 


MAYAVARAM AND TRANQUEBAR. 


65 



A High Caste Maiden. 

them are caste girls and will marry only men of their 
own caste. The Leipzig Missions recognize caste among 
.their converts. There was one girl whose particular 
caste was not known. It was very difficult to secure a 
husband for her. Rev. Blomstrand of Madura had final¬ 
ly arranged a marriage for her with one of his native 
teachers. 

The women of India, both rich and poor, are very 











GG 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


fond of jewelry and personal ornamehts. They wear 
not only necklaces and bracelets, but also anklets and 
loe rings. In the Tamil country especially they are 
fond of wearing ornaments in their noses, either at the 
side or suspended from the nose and hanging down over 
the lips so that they have to be held aside when food is 
taken. But the most disgusting method is the practice 
of cutting a slit in the ear lobe and distending it until 
you might put your fist through it, then loading it down 
with heavy ornaments, which often rest upon the shoul¬ 
ders. The influence of Christianity is of course against 
these practices, but the progress is slow. 

Mayavaram contains one of the sacred bathing places 
in South India. In the month of November thousands 
of pilgrims resort hither to bathe in the waters of the 
Cauvery river, which are supposed to he connected with 
the sacred waters of the Ganges. There is also a temple 
to Siva, but it is not open to visitors. 

While Mrs. Foss and Martha stopped to rest and to 
visit with Mrs. Hoffmann, Dr. Benze and I made a trip 
to Tranquebar. The train took us to Porear Roads in 
the small French territory along the coast. France still 
holds five little districts in India—one along the western 
coast and four along the eastern—with a combined area 
of only 196 square miles and with a population of about, 
a quarter of a million. We were met at the station by 
a native with a jutka and a pony. We had a drive of 
about six miles, passing customs as we crossed from the 
French territory into the English. We arrived in Tran¬ 
quebar at nine o’clock in the evening and were cordially 
welcomed by Rev. Pamperrien and his amiable wife. 

Tranquebar is now an insignificant place, little more 


MAYAVARAM AN1) TRANQUE15AR. 


07 



The Old Danish Fort. 


than a village, blit we felt that we were treading on holy 
ground. It was here that the first Protestant mission¬ 
ary to India, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, began his work 
in 1706. This part of India then belonged to Denmark, 
and it was her king, Frederick IV, who took the initia¬ 
tive in this important work. The old Danish Zion 
church, erected in 1694, for the Danish Christians, is 
still extant but belongs to the English population. The 
old Danish Fort, on the sandy beach, remains intact, 
and the room in which Ziegenbalg was once a prisoner 
is still pointed out. 

The first church was erected in 1707, but in ten years 
it was found to be too small. A new church was then 
built with funds collected in Denmark and Germany. 
It was named Jerusalem and was dedicated by Ziegen¬ 
balg on the 11th of October, 1718. The following year 
the devoted missionary died. He was buried in front 






6 8 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



of the altar in the new church, and there his remains lie 
to this day. A large flat stone laid over the grave marks 
the place. The church is still used for services and the 
pastor is a native Christian named V. Devasagayam. 


Ziegenbalg's Church. 

A beautiful granite monument has been erected at 
this place to the memory of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg 
and his colleague Heinrich Pliitschau by the native 
Christians of the Leipzig Mission. It is located near the 
old Danish Fort and bears the following inscription: 




M AY A. V ARAM AND TRANQUEBAR. 


69 


1706—1906. 

Here by the grace of God landed on the 9th of July, 
1706, the first Evangelical Lutheran missionaries to 
India, Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pliit- 
schau. 

Erected by the grateful congregations of the Leipzig 
Mission in the Jubilee Year 1906. 

It is at Tranquebar that the Leipzig Society has lo¬ 
cated its theological seminary for the training of native 
pastors. The course covers three years and embraces, 
^.besides theological subjects, German, English, Tamil, 
and New Testament Greek. The students are nearly 
all caste men. “The superiority of the caste men to 
the Pariahs,” said Probst Pamperrien, “may be seen in 
the fact that all our native pastors so far are caste men. 
Of the present candidates eleven are caste men and one 
is a Pariah.” 

He also gave us the following interesting statistics: 
“We have 30 German and 9 Swedish missionaries, 17 
Zenana sisters, 66 catechists, 12 evangelists, 18 Bible 
women, 46 elders, and 15 established, self-governing 
congregations. The native Christians collected 10,000 
rupees last year.” 

The publishing house of the mission is also located 
here. Some thirty men are employed in the establish- 
. ment. The manager is a native pastor, Bev. N. Samuel, 
a man of learning and intelligence. He seemed to be 
well acquainted with the Lutheran theological writings 
of both Europe and America. 

In the evening we had our jutka ride back to Porear 
Roads where we took the train for Mayavaram. We 


70 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


arrived about nine o’clock in the evening and had in¬ 
tended to take the midnight train for Madras, but when 
we reached the depot, we found that although we had 
telegraphed a day in advance for passage, the train was 
so crowded that there was room for only one. Dr. Benzc 
availed himself of this opportunity. The rest of us re¬ 
turned to the bungalow to wait for the next train, eight 
o’clock the following morning. There appeared to be 
about a hundred natives waiting to leave on the same 
midnight train. But even the third class accommoda¬ 
tions were all taken and these natives had to wait too. 
They did not seem to mind it much, but instead of re¬ 
turning to their homes, they rolled themselves in their 
blankets and lay down on the platform and grounds 
around the station house and slept till morning. 

The next train was also crowded, but we finally suc¬ 
ceeded in finding room. Our train left Mayavaram at 
eight in the morning and arrived in Madras at five in 
the afternoon. They usually have separate compart¬ 
ments or sections for ladies and gentlemen on the cars 
in India, and it sometimes happens, especially if the 
train is crowded, that gentlemen and ladies traveling 
together have to occupy not only different compartments, 
but even different coaches. Such was our lot during 
part of the way to Madras. 

Caste people, especially Brahmans, are put to a great 
deal of inconvenience in traveling by rail. According 
to caste rules they should not eat in the presence of peo¬ 
ple outside of their caste; their food and drink should 
not be touched by lower castes, Europeans, or outcastes. 
But in spite of all this they travel extensively and are 
brought to realize more and more fully the absurdity of 


MAYAVARAM AND TANJORE. 


71 


caste. The railroads thus become a powerful instru¬ 
ment in undermining the caste system. 

Some of our fellow passengers were caste men. A 
few were lawyers, or pleaders as they are usually called 
in India. As a rule these pleaders are college and uni¬ 
versity graduates and speak English perfectly. Their 
dress is often a queer mixture of native and European 
styles. Thus one of our fellow passengers wore instead 
of trousers the usual white cloth, a white laundried 
shirt hanging down full length and unconfined, a stiff 
linen collar with a purple tie, a European vest and cut¬ 
away coat, a turban on his head, and sandals on his feet. 
His grotesque appearance was heightened by the fact 
that his shirt was longer than his cutaway coat. 

S'ome of these men belonged to the Swadeshi, or Home 
Rule, Movement, at present agitating certain circles in 
India. This agitation against British rule is largely 
confined to the college and university graduates who 
have not been able to secure government positions. There 
is a large army of these graduates turned out every year. 
According to Dr. Jones, the University of Calcutta alone 
has more students registered than Harvard, Yale, 
Princeton, and Toronto combined. The agitation, how¬ 
ever, does not reach the masses. It is safe to say that 
90 per cent, of the people of India are satisfied with the 
British rule. There is little to unite the people in a 
concerted movement. There is no feeling of nationality. 
There is no national language. When the so-called 
National Congress meets, the only language all the del¬ 
egates can understand is English. There are several 
hundred languages and dialects spoken throughout In¬ 
dia, and the people are divided up into an almost infinite 


72 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


number of tribes and castes. There is, however, a gen¬ 
eral and deep-seated prejudice against the white race, 
and this is heightened by the overbearing conduct and 
snobbishness of Englishmen and Europeans in general. 
Concerted action can not be effected in India at present, 
but there are strong forces working for nationality and 
union, of which I may speak in another place. 




CHAPTER VI. 

Madras. 

When we got off the train at Madras, we looked around 
for Dr. Benze, who expected to meet us here. We learned 
afterwards that he had made a mistake in the train time, 
and, hence, we looked in vain. We secured a carriage 
and after much difficulty finally succeeded in finding 
the German Lutheran mission compound. Here we 
found Dr. Benze and met Dr. Carl Bauer and his wife. 
We spent three days at this place and visited not only 
the Leipzig mission, but also the Danish, the American 
Methodist, the S. P. C. K. ? the S. P. G., and that of the 
Free Church of Scotland. 

Madras is the third city in size in India, having a 
population of 550,000. It extends nine miles along the 
coast and covers an area of over 30 square miles. It has 
a considerable European population and contains a large 
number of fine business places. There is the noted 
University of Madras and the Fort of St. George with 
fine government buildings within its enclosure. There 
is the celebrated observatory, founded in 1792, which 
furnishes the standard time for all India. There are 
also a number of fine statues and monuments, among 
others that of Lord Cornwallis and of Bishop Heber. It 




Glimpses of three Continents. 6. 


74 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


is the seat of government of the Madras Presidency, 
which embraces the larger part of Southeastern India. 

On Friday morning, Dec. 18, we took a carriage drive 
about the city. We stopped at the Y. M. C. A. building 
to meet Eev. Larsen, a Danish missionary. As we 
passed through the waiting room on the first floor we 
saw a lady looking at us as if trying to recognize us, 
and while waiting for Mr. Larsen in the room above, 
we were suddenly accosted by a man, who had been tele¬ 
phoning in an adjoining room. It was our friend and 
missionary from Eajahmundry, Eev. Eckardt. The 
lady we had seen downstairs now came rushing to meet 
us too. It was Mrs. Eckardt. They had come down to 
Madras to seek medical treatment for Mrs. Eckardt’s 
eyes. It was a very happy surprise indeed. It was 
almost like being home to meet people with whom we 
were so closely associated. Our visit with them was of 
course necessarily short, but we expected to meet them 
soon at their home in Eajahmundry. 



Law College at Madras. 











The High Court, Madras. 









76 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


We next drove through the Fort of St. George, saw 
the British soldiers on parade, and visited St. George’s 
Cathedral within the fort’s enclosure. It contains many 
interesting memorial tablets, among others one of our 
Lord Cornwallis, who surrendered at Yorktown, and 
one of the great missionary Schwartz, whom the British 
government has honored more than any other mission¬ 
ary in India. 

We also called on Rev. and Mrs. J. Bittman of the 
Danish mission, and visited their mission church, built 
















MADRAS. 


77 


with funds collected by the Sunday-school children of 
Denmark. The work is not conducted by the Danish 
church as such, but by a missionary society. They have 
nine missionaries, one of whom is a native. Of all the 
Lutherans in India, the Danes are the most liberal in 
their methods and practices, and some of the other 
Lutheran missions are hardly willing to recognize them 
as a Lutheran body. 

We spent the afternoon and all day Saturday in visit¬ 
ing various missions, but as the work is everywhere the 
same it is not necessary to give any particular details. 
The American Methodist Church has its largest publi¬ 
cation house in India at this place. The manager, 
Mr. A. E. Ogg, informed us that they employ about 
200 men and do their own electrotyping and type¬ 
casting. A still larger missionary enterprise of this 
kind in Madras is that of the S’. P. C. K.., where they 
employ 500 men and print books and papers in about 
50 different languages. 

On Friday evening Dr. Bauer gave a Christmas en¬ 
tertainment to the boys of his boarding school. Most 
of the boys were going home the next day to spend their 
vacation with parents and friends. A large Christmas 
tree, beautifully decorated, stood in one corner of the 
large room. There are no evergreens in this part of 
India, but a tree closely resembling the evergreen is 
■ -used for the purpose. The presents were placed in front 
of the tree. We were assigned seats along one of the 
sides of the room. The rest of the room was vacant. 
Dr. Bauer sat down to the organ and began to play 
“Adeste Fideles ” or “Come hither, ye faithful.” By 
and by we heard voices singing the familiar tune in 


78 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Tamil words. The voices came nearer and by and by 
the boys entered, two and two, and took their places on 
the vacant space in front of the tree. When the sing¬ 
ing closed the boys all sat down tailor-fashion on the 
floor. A catechetical exercise now followed conducted 
by one of the native teachers. The boys were prompt 
in answering, sometimes individually and sometimes in 
concert. There was more singing, the reading of the 
Christmas story, prayer and benediction. Then fol¬ 
lowed the distribution of the presents. Each boy re¬ 
ceived a white loin cloth, a jacket, a pencil, some mar¬ 
bles, and some candy. After the distribution the boys 
rose, line by line, salaamed to us, and quietly filed out. 
The entertainment was over. 

Sunday morning we attended services in the Lutheran 
church. They were conducted entirely in the Tamil 
tongue and by the native pastor, the Rev. N. Devas- 
ahayam, assisted by a catechist. Two little twin boys, 
grandsons of the pastor were baptized. At the close of 
the service we were invited together with Dr. and Mrs. 
Bauer to the pastor’s home. It was a native house with 
mud walls and rice-straw thatch. Everything was neat 
and clean inside, however. We met the pastor’s wife, 
daughter, son-in-law, and sons, and the little twins that 
had just been baptized. We were garlanded with 
wreaths of marigolds strung on long strings and hung 
over our necks. This is a very common custom in India 
when people wish to do honor to any one. We were 
also treated to mittai (native sweets or candy), bananas, 
and betel nuts. The latter is the nut of the areca or 
betel palm. It is wrapped in a few pepper leaves, to 
which a little quicklime is added. It is then chewed in 


MADRAS. 


79 

somewhat the same way as we chew gum. The practice 
is known as chewing the betel, and is common all 
over the Orient from Arabia to Japan. It is used far 
more extensively in Ceylon and among the Tamils than 
among the Telugus. The juice is blood red and when 
you are chewing it your lips and teeth look as if they 
were bleeding. When we first came to Colombo and 
saw the red stains everywhere on the sidewalks, we won¬ 
dered why so many people were spitting blood. The 
juice is usually swallowed. It is said to be harmless 
and to aid digestion. But it ruins the teeth, and most 
of the older and middle-aged people among the Tamils 
have either black teeth or none at all. It is the most 
common thing offered as a treat, and we had been fore¬ 
warned that we had to accept it if offered, but that it 
was not necessary for us to chew it. The bananas were 
of course safe to eat, but the candy seemed a little du¬ 
bious. 

The pastor spoke Tamil, German, English, and Telu- 
gu readily, and his library contained works in all these 
tongues. 

The young men of the church had organized a Bible 
Union Society and held meetings every Sunday. We 
were present at their meeting and were asked to speak 
on “Home Missions in America.” 

On the way home we passed the Lutheran cemetery. 
We stopped awhile to see it. Near the center of it we 
found the grave of the first missionary sent out from 
the Augustana Synod, that of Rev. A. B. Carlson. He 
was sent out. to Rajahmundry in 1878 and died from the 
effects of sunstroke in the hospital at Madras in 1882. 
His grave is well kept and is marked by a black granite 


80 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


monument in the form of a cross, bearing the inscrip¬ 
tion : 

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF 

REV. A. B. CARLSON. 

Born August 16, 1846. 

Died March 29, 1882. 

We also passed the Hindu cemetery, or rather burn¬ 
ing-ground, where we saw a body in the process of 
cremation. It was simply laid on the ground on a layer 
of fuel such as is used in India, then covered completely 
over with the same fuel, and thus burned. One of the 
men in charge of the work gathered up a handful of 
small, partly consumed bones, which he offered us as 
mementoes. But it seemed so gruesome to us that we 
thanked him, as politely as we could, and declined. 

At six o’clock in the evening we bade farewell to Dr. 
and Mrs. Bauer and took the train for Guntur. 

In leaving Madras, we also left the Tamil country. 
From Tuticorin to Madras the Tamil language is used 
everywhere—on the trains, in the government offices, 
in the churches and schools, in the bazars, and in the 
homes of the people. Competent authorities agree that 
Tamil “is one of the most ancient, copious, and refined 
languages spoken by man/’ Dr. Winslow observes that 
“in its poetic form, the Tamil is more polished and 
exact than the Greek and more copious than the Latin.” 
It has a very ancient literature, and it is no doubt one 
of the oldest living languages of culture in the world. 
It is spoken to-day by over 15 millions of people. 

Tamil scholars hold that the earliest Tamils in India 
came from the Euphrates valley and belonged to the 


Madras. 


81 


Elamite stock. This claim they base on the traditions 
recorded in their early literature and on linguistic and 
ethnological grounds. They point to the fact that the 
name of the ancient capital of Chaldea Ur, which in 
their language means city, has lived on through the 
ages and is still found in the endings of city names both 
among the Tamils and the Telugus, as for example in 
Satur, Tirupatur, Polur, Guntur, and many others. 
They also believe that a brisk trade and close com¬ 
munication existed between the ancient Tamils and the 
Chaldeans, and point to the fact that in the excavations 
at Mugheir, the ancient Ur of the Chaldees, a piece of 
teak wood was found, a tree which grows only in South 
India. The Hebrew names for articles of Indian com¬ 
merce are of Tamil origin. Some of them identify 
Ophir, whence Solomon’s navy on one occasion brought 
420 talents of gold, with the Tamil village of Ovari a 
little south of Tuticorin, where gold may be found even 
to-day in the sand mounds, which mark the ancient 
mines. 

It is reasonably certain that this is the oldest part of 
India, and that the archaeologist should begin here and 
not in the north. It is an interesting subject, but space 
will not permit a discussion of it here. We hope that 
future scholars will give it the attention it deserves. 

In leaving the land of the Tamils, we pass into that 
of the Telugus. The Telugu is also a language of cul¬ 
ture and of very ancient date. It is related to the Tamil. 
The two are known as sister languages, but the relation 
is not as close as that of the English and the German. 
They have entirely different alphabets. Here are a few 
lines of each language, Tamil first: 


82 


glimpses of three continents. 


pjnEjemsuSeSlQfsp Ql-.q$g^ gjonir$pGsrppirir «jyoy/f 
&%srr <5TtrerrorirLDev ^/euif^err Qeu Ss\3S@ gfismL-tyjZH&err 

Q&iU'giLD, ^/Guiraor airppirQu/fleo esxsupp ^^n^iuirm <s fil&r 

euir&PjSfreo uiuegip QqjZ so Q^Lupirirserr, 

cPjwiT&or Qfiiip Qeuds^eauj it sampan it, 

?£r’e?oB$ Sko-tSSocd^o^^ooe; 13o2acf§0?5b 
Sa^^oio. wg tf&Solj efeo^j s 57T» S5bo& 

s6e3^bj ‘efjO^o&e;, «a oS&lkS "^SxiSw 'efgGo^o^eoo 
«325R»2_ cJ5boo^eS'3j&.—4 sjcrej&^_e». 

On account of its soft musical character, the Telugu 
has been called the Italian of India. It is spoken by 
over 20,000,000 people. Its chief seat of culture is 
Bajahmundry. 





CHAPTER VII. 

Guntur. 

We arrived in Guntur at six o’clock on Monday morn¬ 
ing, having been just twelve hours on the way from 
Madras. As we approached the station we saw thou¬ 
sands of people assembled in the open space around the 
depot. Everything was decorated with palm leaves and 
bright colors, flags and banners were waving, and here 
and there were high arches with the word “Welcome” 
written in large letters over them. What did it all mean ? 

As our train stopped we saw a group of American 
missionaries on the platform waiting to bid us welcome. 
We received a most cordial greeting and were distributed 
among the different homes of the missionaries, so that, 
as Dr. Uhl, the senior missionary remarked, they would 
all have the pleasure of our company. Dr. Benze was 
assigned to Dr. Aberly; Martha to Miss Lowe, Miss 
Sanford, and Miss Thomas at the Zenana Home; and 
Mrs. Foss and myself to Bev. and Mrs. A. 0. Becker. 

After these assignments had been made, Dr. Uhl add¬ 
ed, “You will now accompany your hosts home to 
breakfast and excuse me as I have to meet the governor.” 

How we learned what the crowds and the decorations 
were for. The governor of the Madras Presidency, His 
Excellency Sir Arthur Lawley, had just arrived from 


84 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Madras. His special train had pulled in just ahead of 
ours. He had come to visit Guntur and the district it 
represents, and was the guest of the collector of the 
district. 

The missionaries had also invited him to visit them, 
and he had accepted the invitation. This mission is 
now about seventy years old and is one of the best es¬ 
tablished in India. With its hospital, college, and other 
institutions, it forms a very important part of the city. 
At nine o’clock in the morning the missionaries were 
assembled in the new chapel near the hospital to receive 
the governor. We were invited to join them. Along the 
two sides of the street for a great distance the children 
of the various schools of the mission, boys and girls, 
were arranged. They were all arrayed in their best attire 
and each one held a palm branch in the left hand. As 
the governor drove between the lines, he was received 
with enthusiastic salaams from every mouth. He raised 
his topee and bowed to the right and to the left and 
returned their salaams. 

He entered the chapel, escorted by the collector and 
Dr. Uhl, and was conducted to a chair decorated in his 
honor. Dr. Uhl addressed him in a few words of wel¬ 
come to which he replied in fitting terms. He expressed 
his sympathy with the missionaries in their labors, their 
sacrifices and privations, and his high appreciation of 
their efforts to elevate the natives and to “spread the 
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The governor 
was then introduced to all the missionaries, for each of 
whom he had a kindly word of greeting. He was next 
shown the various institutions of the mission, especially 
the hospital and dispensary, which were in charge of 


GUNTUR. 


85 


Drs. Kugler, Baer, and Mitchell and the head nurse 
Miss Fahs. This is one of the finest institutions of its 
kind in all South India, and the governor was highly 
pleased with it. He only expressed his regrets that Lady 
Lawley was not along, “For,” said he, “she is an Ameri¬ 
can, you know.” 

In the afternoon a garden party was given in his 
honor on a large green by Mr. Toleti Appa Bow, a 
wealthy native of the place. Together with the mission¬ 
aries we were honored with printed invitations. A large 
pandal, or temporary structure of palm branches, had 
been erected, in which various refreshments were served, 
such as tea, coffee, cake, and candy. Native games were 
played by the school girls and by gypsy women from 
the hill country. 

In the evening a concert was given in a pandal erected 
for the occasion by one of the wealthy natives. It was 
large enough to accommodate an audience of many 
thousand people, and it was packed full. Through the 
kindness of the missionaries we received tickets and were 
present. On an elevated platform, at the upper end of 
the pandal, sat the governor and a few of his party. A 
table and chair had been borrowed for the occasion from 
a neighboring rajah. They were of wonderful workman¬ 
ship, inlaid with gold and jewels, and were said to cost 
ten thousand dollars each. 

The program consisted of music by a native orchestra. 
The intruments appeared to us to be of a very crude 
sort, one being simply an earthen water-pot with no 
other drumsticks than the fingers. The performance 
became somewhat monotonous, for, as it appeared to us, 
it consisted of one tune from beginning to end. 


86 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


When the music ceased, a tall and stately Telugu 
gentleman ascended the platform. He was dressed in 
the native style and wore a turban on his head. He held 
a paper in his hand from which he began to read, or 
rather intone, a poem which he, had composed in honor 
of the distinguished guest. Telugu poetry is never read 
like the English, but is always chanted or intoned. 

The poem contained six verses and in each verse the 
governor’s name occurred, and whenever his name was 
mentioned the people gave expression to their feelings by 
an enthusiastic clapping of hands just as we do in this 
country. There seemed to be no lack of loyalty to the 
government, at least not to Sir Arthur Lawley. 

When the reader had finished, he handed the paper to 
the governor, bowed, and retired. The governor ac¬ 
cepted it and bowed in return. 

“Who was that gentleman ?” I asked Dr. Uhl, who sat 
next to me. 

“Why, that was Yaddadi Subbarayudu Garu, the 
learned Telugu pundit of the Training College of Ra- 
jahmundry,” he replied. 

Subbarayudu Garu has served as the munshi, or teach¬ 
er of Telugu, to all our missionaries in Rajahmundry 
for many years. 

I expected that the governor would say a few words 
of appreciation to the performers and to the audience, 
but as he could not speak Telugu, he could give ex¬ 
pression to his feelings only in the language that every¬ 
body understands, an appreciative bow and a pleasant 
smile. The people responded with an enthusiastic round 
of applause. The governor then withdrew, escorted by 
the collector, but the people remained in their places 


GUNTUR. 


87 



until he had passed out. Then they withdrew too. You 
can scarcely find anywhere in the world more orderly and 
peaceful crowds than in India. 

Then followed a display of fireworks of a wealth and 


Vaddadi Subbarayudu Gam. 








88 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


variety, in form and color, seldom witnessed in our 
country. These fireworks, it was said, were all manu¬ 
factured in Rajahmundry. 

The governor was a fine Christian gentleman, tall and 
slender in build, of a kindly disposition, and democratic 
ways. He made a good impression on the people. One 
poor Telugu man remarked to another, “What a kind 
man the governor is ! He salaamed even to me !” 

We spent the following day in visiting the various 
departments and institutions of the mission: The Girls’ 
Boarding School, in charge of Miss Jessie Brewer, num¬ 
bers about 250 girls. They range in age from six to 
sixteen years and are Christians. The teachers are all 
native Christians and are supported by the Woman’s 
Home and Foreign Mission Society of the General 
Synod. 

We also visited the Lutheran Mission College, the 
only Lutheran college in India. It is a so-called Second 
Class College, that is, its courses extend only through 
the Sophomore year. It is affiliated with the Univer¬ 
sity of Madras. The work is under the direction of 
Dr. L. L. Uhl. There is a happy blending of castes 
among the students, and a friendly rivalry exists among 
them. During the term just ended at the time of our 
visit there were enrolled 418 Brahmans, 95 Christians, 
50 Sudras, 34 Mohammedans, 18 Vaisyas, and 7 Ksha- 
trias. 

In the afternoon we drove out to a small village some 
four miles from Guntur to see Miss Annie E. Sanford’s 
work among the village women. We stopped at five 
different homes, but did not enter the houses except in 
the last place. The women recited their catechisms and 



Glimpses of three Continents. 7. 


A native village. 



90 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Bible stories remarkably well. A large number of the 
village people, men, women, and children, followed us 
from home to home to see and to hear. In the last 
place we were invited into the house. It was a humble 
earthen structure with scarcely any furniture. We were 
offered seats and were presented with bouquets of mari¬ 
golds. 

The zenanas, or women’s departments of caste homes, 
men are not allowed to enter. Only the ladies of our 
party could, therefore, accompany Miss Sanford to see 
that part of her work. In one of these zenanas they 
found a rude box suspended from the center of the 
ceiling by means of ropes fastened at the four corners. 
This box served as a cradle and in it lay a little child. 
This crude cradle was not in keeping with the rest of 
the furniture and naturally excited the curiosity of our 
party. They were told that the gods had taken away 
from the parents their four other children in their in¬ 
fancy, because they were so precious. They had, there¬ 
fore, decided to deceive the gods and make them think 
that this little child was not worth taking, since it was 
not cared for any better. Instead of giving it a name 
indicating preciousness, as Gold, Pearl, Gem, Ruby, 
Jewel, or the like, they called it by a name meaning 
rubbish. This practice is not uncommon in India. It 
is in line with this superstition that they usually leave 
some little part of a building unfinished, or purposely 
leave a flaw in whatever they make so that the gods 
will not want it. This insures what some people in 
this country would call good luck. 

In the evening Dr. Benze and I took the train for 
Nayudupeta to visit the Hermannsburg mission at that 


GUNTUR. 


91 


place, while Mrs. Foss and Martha remained with our 
friends at Guntur. We simple retraced our course, 
traveling over the road we had come on from Madras a 
few days before. We traveled all night and reached our 
destination the next morning. 

Rev. H. Harms, who had charge of the work at this 
place, met us at the station with an ox-cart, usually 
called a bullock handy. Oxen are used a great deal 
in the fields and on the roads in India. They are very 
slow in their motion, seldom making over two or two 
and a half miles an hour. As we were nearing the mis¬ 
sion bungalow strains of music met our ears. It was 
“The Star-Spangled Banner’’ beautifully played by 
some band. It was followed by “Home S*weet Home.” 
No tunes could have sounded sweeter to our ears at that 
time than these two, and we admired the good taste of 
the musicians in selecting them. When the music 
ceased we were in full view of the bungalow. The 
musicians were a band of native students, but the in¬ 
struments were imported from Germany. 

At the bungalow we met, besides Mrs. Harms and 
daughter, a number of missionaries—Rev. W. Peterson, 
Rev. Markholf, Mr. J. Burmeister, a lay missionary in 
charge of the industrial school, and Miss Drevas, who 
is preparing for missionary work. As Christmas was 
at hand, the schools were all closed for a vacation, but 
on learning that we were coming, Rev. Harms had sum¬ 
moned teachers and pupils to meet, and we found the 
schools in full session when we came. We visited all 
their schools, and upon request of Mr. Harms, examined 
the children and students in the various subjects taught. 
We found the children well versed in the catechism and 


92 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


the Bible. The difficulty was of course that we did not 
know the Telugu and had to conduct the examination 
through an interpreter. In the seminary, however, 
where twenty young men were studying, we could use 
the English. Dr. Benze was to examine in Isagogics 
and I in Church History. They did about as well as 
the average students in this country would do. 

We also visited the industrial school. The work is 
confined to carpentry and blacksmithing. Timber is 
scarce in India. The most valued is the teak wood. 
It commands a very high price. Labor is so cheap that 
it is found to be more profitable to saw the logs into 
boards by hand than to have it done at the mill. Saw¬ 
mills are rare in India. The sawyers are very skilful. 
They can saw the thinnest boards to any length and of 
an even thickness. The accompanying illustration shows 
the method usually employed. 

In the evening, just as we had finished our dinner, we 
heard a noise on the veranda. We hurried to the door 
and found a large number of students and school boys 
assembled, perhaps two hundred. They had brought 
their musical instruments. There was both a band and 
an orchestra. Several pieces were played, and songs were 
sung both in Telugu and English. One of the theologi¬ 
cal students made a short address in English, expressing 
the pleasure of the students at meeting us and their 
high appreciation of our coming so far to see them. 
To this address Dr. Benze asked me to say a few words 
in reply. The exercises were closed with Scripture read¬ 
ing and prayer. 

It was now near nine o’clock. Our train left at nine. 
We were beginning to think of the slow pace of the 


GUNTUR. 


93 



oxen. But the students had brought a carriage of 
American or European make. They had also brought 
long ropes, which they tied to the carriage. While two 


Native sawyers. 





94 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


of them seized the shafts, others, some twenty or more, 
took hold of the ropes. They asked ns to step in. This 
we did after having bidden onr good friends good-bye. 
Thus we were taken to the depot at a rate faster than 
two miles an hour, and arrived there in good time. As 
I saw those students, full of young life and kindly im¬ 
pulses, I was reminded of our own students at home and 
felt that, after all, human nature is everywhere the 
same. 

It was a little past midnight when we reached Ongole. 
Here we decided to stop off to visit the American Bap¬ 
tist mission at this place. The night was dark, for 
there was no moon. We did not know which way to 
turn, or where to go. Presently two natives came up 
and motioned to us to follow them. This we did. They 
led us through the darkness, about a third of a mile, 
and then turned in at a bungalow. They opened the 
door and led us into a room, where we found two cots 
prepared. They motioned to us to be seated and then 
withdrew, shutting the door. From a note which they 
had handed us we learned that we were to stay here un¬ 
til morning. 

In the morning Dr. H. Huizinga from Michigan, one 
of the missionaries of this place, whom we had met at 
the governor’s reception at Guntur a few days before, 
came to our room and asked us how we had slept. He 
told us that cliota hazeri was ready and invited us to 
come along. Cliota hazeri is the Telugu name for the 
early meal, corresponding to our breakfast. At the 
table we met Mrs. Huizinga, who is also an American. 
After breakfast Dr. Huizinga took us to the top of 
Prayer Meeting Hill, a high eminence near the out- 


GUNTUR. 


95 


skirts of the city, from which we had a magnificent 
view of the fertile plains for miles around, the scene 
of the labors of the celebrated Dr. John E. Clough. 

We spent the day in visiting the institutions of this 
mission, but as the work does not differ materially from 
that of other missions, I shall say nothing more about 
it. We left Ongole about five o’clock in the afternoon 
and reached Guntur near midnight. Eev. Becker’s ser¬ 
vants met us at the station with a bandy, and we were 
soon taken to our respective homes. 

The next day was Christmas though it did not look 
much like it with the mercury in the nineties and all the 
trees and fields green. We attended English services in 
the mission church, held especially for the benefit of the 
missionaries. The sermon was preached by Eev. J. E. 
Strock, one of the late arrivals on the field. These 
services began at half past seven in the morning and 
were followed immediately by the Telugu services con¬ 
ducted by the native pastor, Eev. M. David. The large 
church w T as now filled to overflowing, for all the children 
of the congregation were present and many non-Chris¬ 
tian children too—all waiting for their Christmas can¬ 
dies and fruits, which were distributed at the close of 
the services. 

In the afternoon we attended the great annual Ta- 
masha or entertainment at the hospital. It is custom¬ 
ary at this hospital to have all the former patients 
and their relatives and friends meet in the afternoon of 
Christmas day in the large court in front of the hos¬ 
pital. There were hundreds and hundreds present— 
men, women, and children; Christians, Hindus, and 
Mohammedans; caste people and outcastes. An inter- 


96 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


esting program was rendered, and refreshments were 
served. It was an event that conld not have occurred 
anywhere in India some ten or fifteen years ago. It 
shows how caste is beginning to give way and what a 
powerful instrument the Christian hospital is in under¬ 
mining the system. 

In the evening the missionaries met at the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Becker to enjoy a common Christmas din¬ 
ner. We spent a very happy evening, and we could al¬ 
most have imagined ourselves around a Christmas table 
at home if it had not been for the open windows and the 
summer breezes, which played among the Christmas 
decorations. 

Among other good things provided for our dinner 
there was also ice cream. This is seldom seen in India. 
The ice had been shipped all the way from Madras. 
Some of the boys of the Orphan Home and Industrial 
School, in charge of Bev. Becker, were present when the 
ice cream was made. They were each given a dish of 
it. We thought, of course, that they would like it, but 
we were mistaken. The poor boys did not know how to 
eat it. They took their mouths full, and it was too cold 
for them. They were too polite to show that they did 
not like it, but when they thought that no one was look¬ 
ing they turned around and took it out. They told Mr. 
Becker afterwards that they had heard that that stuff 
sometimes falls to the depth of two feet in America 
in winter. 

As it was in the midst of the Christmas vacation we 
could not see Dr. Aberly’s work, the Boy’s Boarding 
School and the Theological Seminary, but he took us 
around to see the buildings and explained the work to 


GUNTUR. 


97 


us. On Saturday morning he also took us to see the 
parochial schools throughout the various parts of the 
city. 

In the afternoon we drove out to the village of Pedda- 
kanoki with Eev. Isaac Cannaday and Eev. Thomas. 
Here we met two native workers, David and Mark. The 
services were conducted in the village prayer house, a 
simple earthen structure with palmleaf thatch. There 
was singing, Scripture reading, prayer, and preaching. 
A child was baptized and communion administered. 
Dr. Benze and myself were called on to say a few words 
to the congregation. Eev. Cannaday interpreted for us. 

Sunday we were the guests of Drs. Kugler and Baer. 
We attended Telugu services in the morning, at the close 
of which we were as usual asked to speak to the con¬ 
gregation. The natives were of course interested in 
seeing and hearing us, but the difficulty was that we 
could not speak the language. We spoke in English, 
and Dr. Aberly interpreted for us. 

In the afternoon at five o’clock we went to Sunday- 
school. Mr. Joshua, a native Christian, served as super¬ 
intendent. The school has an enrollment of about a 
thousand children. The opening exercises were held in 
the church, but the class recitations were held under 
the trees on the beautiful church lawn. For the closing 
exercises the children again assembled in the church. 
The superintendent asked all who wanted to send greet¬ 
ings to the Sunday-school children in America to hold 
up their right hand. Every hand went up. 

After Sunday-school came the English services. The 
eommon service was used. Dr. Benze filled the pulpit. 

We had now spent a whole week with our friends in 



y v. a H: 








'rrirti/p-i/j. 





Stork Memorial Church , Guntur 














GUNTUR. 


99 


Guntur and the time had come for us to make our last 
move and to arrive at length on our own mission field. 
We left Guntur at two o’clock in the morning, and after 
waiting for some time to make connection at Bezwada, 
we finally reached the Godavari station in Rajahmundry 
at 8 o’clock on Monday morning, December 28. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

Rajahmundry. 

A number of our missionaries met us at the station, 
some of whom we bad met before and were acquainted 
with, others we met now for the first time. They gave 
us a hearty welcome, and their kind words and cheerful 
looks made us feel at home at once. They escorted us 
to the Zenana Home, a comfortable bungalow, which 
was not occupied at the time and which had been ren¬ 
ovated and put in order for our benefit. It is located 
in the same compound as our Book Store and Printery 
and the Riverdale bungalow. The latter was at that 
time occupied by Dr. and Mrs. J. H. Harpster and Miss 
Emily Weiskotten. 

This was, then, to be our home during our stay in 
Rajahmundry. We were now to have a chance to try 
housekeeping in India all by ourselves. Four servants 
had been provided for us: Michael, our butler, who was 
to make all purchases and have a general supervision 
over our table; Kortiyah, our cook; Bongari, our water 
boy; and Lacksmi, whose duty was to sweep and dust. 
After some time we found that our cook with the help 
of his little brother-in-law, Venkena, a bright little boy 
of ten years, was able to attend to the duties of both 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


101 



cook and butler, and so we dismissed Michael. These 
servants with the exception of Michael were all heathen. 
Michael was a Catholic Christian. 

We had already gotten accustomed to many of the 
ways of the country as the missionaries everywhere had 


Our Bungalow. 







102 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


been untiring in their efforts to point out to us the pecu¬ 
liarities of the land and the people. We usually rose 
between six and seven in the morning and had our 
cliota hazeri, or early meal, about seven o’clock. It con¬ 
sisted of bread and butter and tea or coffee and some 
native fruit. Then would follow a period of work. 
About twelve noon we had our breakfast, which consisted 
of three or four courses, the principal one being curry 
and rice with some meat — fish, chicken, or mutton. 



Our Household. 








EAJAHMUNDRY. 


103 


This meal is always followed by a period of rest, during 
the hottest part of the day, when Europeans usually stay 
in doors. Between three and four we had our tiffin, 
afternoon tea or coffee with bread and butter and some 
fruit, usually oranges or bananas. The fierce heat of the 
day is then over, and another period of work follows till 
about eight o’clock. Then comes dinner, the principal 
meal of the day. It usually consists of five or six 
courses. 

The native cooks are experts in their art, and in spite 
of their crude utensils they prepare very savory dishes. 
The kitchen is separated from the bungalow. As a rule 
it is not furnished with a stove or range as in this 
country, but only with a crude fireplace of brick and 
mortar, or at times a mere firepot formed by a few 
bricks or stones laid in a circle or triangle. Over this 
the kettle or pan is placed and the food is cooked or 
roasted. 

The cooking for Europeans is quite different from 
that of the natives. Water for cooking and drinking 
purposes is usually gotten from some well. It is 
thoroughly boiled and filtered and then poured into an 
earthen vase, or bottle, called a cujah in Telugu. The 
water is continually oozing through the porous sides of 
the bottle and is at once evaporated. This evaporation 
causes the water to cool so that no ice is needed. It is 
only in large centers of European population, like 
Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, that ice may be had. 

Beef is rarely eaten in India, as the cow is sacred to 
the Hindus. Pork is also rare. The hog is regarded as 
unclean. Only the very lowest people eat it. But fish, 
mutton, goat’s meat, chicken, goose, duck, and turkey 


104 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


can be had as easily as in this country. Bread is bought 
at the bakery. It is made in the same way and shape 
as in this country, and the price is about the same. But- 



Getting the Toddy. 


ter is imported from Australia and is put up in tin cans. 
It is sold for about a rupee, or 33 cents a pound. The 
native butter is not eaten by Europeans. It is boiled 
until every particle of water is evaporated. It then has 









RAJAHMUNDRY. 


105 


the appearance of oil and never hardens or grows old or 
rancid. It has been known to keep two hundred years 
without spoiling. It is known as ghee and is considered 
the most precious thing a native can offer to his gods. 
Milk and cream are of a very inferior quality. The two 
most common fruits on our table were oranges of a 
small, inferior kind and bananas, called plantains all 
over India. 

The staple beverage among missionaries is tea. Coffee 
is also used, but not as much as in this country. Water 
of course is a common drink. The sap of the palmyra 
palm, called toddy, is drunk by the natives when they 
can afford it. It is white like milk, and when fresh it 
is wholesome and nourishing. It ferments in twenty- 
four hours and becomes intoxicating. The trees grow 
from twenty to thirty feet high and average about two 
feet in diameter. They are tapped at the top as well as 
further down. The English government has placed a 
tax on every tree. 

Our laundry was done by the native laundryman, or 
dhoby. This is a common practice in India. The dhoby 
comes around for your laundry every week and returns 
with it when done. He takes your clothes to the river 
or to a tank, finds a smooth stone, dips your clothes in 
the water and beats them against the stone till they are 
clean. Then he spreads them out on the grass or sand 
to dry. He gets them clean, but it does not take him 
long to wear them out. 

As a rule missionaries’ bungalows are built of stone 
or concrete. They are usually of a white color and have 
tiled roofs. Glass windows are not common. Slat 
blinds are used instead. The object is to give the air 


Glimpses of three Continents. 8. 


106 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



a freer circulation. The ground floors are always of 
cement as wooden floors would be eaten up by the white 
ants. These ants are one of the pests of India. They 
eat almost any fibrous substance they can find. They 


The Dhoby at work. 

may devour your furniture and eat the bottom out of 
your trunk if you leave it standing on the floor. They 
even attack growing trees and sometimes eat them down. 
Wooden structures are therefore not found in India. 











RAJAHMUNDRY. 


107 


Mud, brick, stone, and concrete are the building mate¬ 
rials commonly used. Wood may be used away from the 
ground as for doors, casings, and rafters. For these 
purposes teak wood is the best as the ants do not eat it, 
but it is too expensive for common use. The floors are 
usually covered with palm leaf matting. 

This open condition of the bungalows has one serious 
objection. It makes them too accessible to snakes and 
scorpions. The snakes in India have a tendency to get in¬ 
to houses. Every missionary has some snake story to tell. 
One of our missionaries, now in America, tells of her 
lying in bed, recovering from a fever, when a cobra fell 
from the rafters down upon her bed. She was almost 
paralyzed with fear, but escaped harm. Another of our 
missionaries told of a cobra crawling across the bed over 
the bare arm of a sleeping child. It is never safe to 
walk into a room in the dark. We kept lights burning 
in our room all night. This practice is quite common 
in India. 

Scorpions too get into the houses. The sting of the 
scorpion is very painful and may prove fatal to little 
children. All missionaries keep an antidote for the 
scorpion sting. A missionary family returning to their 
bungalow from a vacation to the mountains had the 
matting removed from the floors and found several 
scores of scorpions under it. It seems the sheerest care¬ 
lessness - to leave the houses thus exposed when strong 
wire screens that would keep out both snakes and scorpi¬ 
ons could easily be secured for doors, windows, and all 
other openings. But that is not the custom, and India 
is a land of customs. 

There is a great variety of snakes in India, many of 


108 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



which are poisonous. One is known as the eight-step 
serpent because it is said that a man can not walk more 
than eight steps after he has been bitten by one of them. 
But the most dreadful of all is the cobra. It is more 
poisonous than the rattlesnake, and its bite is nearly 
always fatal. The cobra, however, is a timid snake and 
runs away if you give it a chance. It never bites unless 
it is startled or cornered. The natives usually make 
some noise to give it warning of their approach. Some 
carry canes with iron rings at the end, which they rattle, 
and sometimes they wear squeaking sandals, which may 
be heard a block away. Europeans usually carry lan¬ 
terns when out nights. 

We spent a few days in visiting at the homes of our 
missionaries in and around Rajahmundry—Dr. and 


The Riverdale Bungalow. 




llAJAHMtJNDRV. 


109 


Mrs. J. H. Harpster and Miss Weiskotten at the Eiver- 
dale bungalow, Eev. and Mrs. 0. 0. Eckardt at the 
Church Bungalow, Eev. and Mrs. E. Arps at Dow- 
laishwaram, Eev. K. Wolters and Eev. C. E. Kuder at 
Luthergiri, Miss Agnes S'chade and Miss Sigrid Es- 
behrn at the Girls’ Central School, and Doctors Lydia 
Woerner, Amy Eohrer, and Betty Nilsson at the Medical 
Home. The other missionaries—Dr. H. E. Isaacsons, 
Eev. E. Neudoerffers, and Eev. 0. L. Larsons—who all 
lived away from Eajahmundry, we visited afterwards. 

We also visited the various parts of the city so as to 
become acquainted with the place. Among the sev¬ 
eral government institutions located here, the peniten¬ 
tiary is perhaps the most unique. The horrible sense 
of confinement so common at our penitentiaries was 
wanting here. The establishment seemed rather like 
a series of busy workshops. The convicts are all made 
to work. They enjoy a great deal of freedom and many 
of them are perfectly contented with their lot, for they 
get all they want to eat and drink. It is said that when 
some have served their term out they purposely com¬ 
mit another crime so as to be sent back there. They 
engage in various works, especially in weaving, rope 
making, rug and carpet weaving, blacksmithing, and 
carpentry. It is wonderful to see what excellent results 
they obtain with the crudest implements. As the native 
always goes barefoot he has a far better use of his toes 
than we have, and he uses them -almost as much as his 
fingers at his work. The barefoot native, for instance, 
will not stoop to pick up a pencil or a nail from the 
ground with his hands, but will pick it up between his 
toes and bring it up to his hands. At an open air meet- 


110 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



ing on one occasion I saw a native woman holding a 
little child on her hip in native style. The child was 
playing with a pencil and dropped it. It began to fret, 
but the mother picked the pencil up between her toes 
brought it up to her hand and gave it back to the child. 
The thing was done so quickly and deftly that you could 
not see her body move. 

Tile making is a great industry everywhere in India. 
The native tile is very cheap and serves its purpose well. 
It is largely made by women. The tools are of the sim¬ 
plest kind and the work is quickly done. The native 
potter is a marvel in the way of skill. It was a real 
pleasure to stop along the street and see him sit at his 
wheel and quickly turn a shapeless lump into beautiful 
and shapely vessels. Some of the water pots are as thin 
as iron kettles and of the same color. 


The Native Potter. 











Native Weaving. 










112 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Weaving is usually done outdoors. The warp is 
stretched out at full length, sometimes a whole block. 
It is done by the weaver caste, and both men and women 
engage in the work. This use of the street for shop 
work adds much to the picturesqueness of a native vil¬ 
lage or city. Even the barber plies his trade in the 
street. He goes from place to place and carries his 
outfit with him. His charge for cutting a man’s hair 
is usually half a cent. But this is from the natives. 
From Europeans he takes all he can get. 

Another feature which adds to the picturesqueness of 
the Indian street are the curious decorations which you 
may see in front of the native houses as you walk along 
the streets in the mornings. These decorations are made 
of white and colored chalk or ashes and are sometimes 
worked into beautiful and artistic designs. They are 
made by the women, and one can not help wondering 
how those women, who know so little, can display so 
much artistic taste. They are of a religious nature and 
are meant to serve as charms against demons and the 
evil eye. They also indicate that the house is swept and 
ready for the gods to enter. It was perhaps to a sim¬ 
ilar custom that our Saviour alludes when he speaks of 
the unclean spirit returning unto his house and finding 
it swept and garnished. 

Rajahmundry is a place of about 40,000 inhabitants 
and lies in the center of the Telugu Land, of which it 
is the chief seat of culture. It lies at the head of the 
delta and on the east side of the great Godavari river, 
which at this place is two miles wide and is spanned by 
a magnificent railroad bridge. At Dowlaishwaram about 
four miles below Rajahmundry is a massive government 



The Barber at work,. 

















114 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



dam, built at an immense cost, to give the water a head 
for irrigation purposes. From this point the river is 
spread out in a perfect network of canals. The delta 


The Pecotah for drawing water. 

thus watered has become one of the most fertile spots in 
India. Two and even three crops a year may now be 
raised there if desired. The water is raised from the 





RAJAHMUNDRY. 


115 


canals by various contrivances by hand power or by the 
use of oxen in the same way as in Egypt since the days 
of Abraham and earlier. The main crop raised here is 
rice. 

Bajahmundry is also the center of our mission work 
in India. Our field extends some forty or fifty miles 
in every direction from the city. This field, however, 
we do not occupy all to ourselves. To the east and 
northeast the Canadian Baptists, and to the south and 
southwest the Plymouth Brethren partly overlap our 
field. As it is, our field covers an area about equal to 
that of Connecticut and contains a population nearly 
equal to that of Minnesota. It is divided into two 
nearly equal parts by the Godavari river. On the west 
side we have three mission districts. Farthest south, 
embracing much of the delta, is the Bhimavaram dis¬ 
trict, where we have most of our Christians. At the 
time of our visit this district was under the supervision 
of Dr. J. H. Harpster. Next above it, embracing the 
rest of the delta on the west side, is the Tadepallegudem 
district. It was in charge of Bev. E. Neudoerffer at 
the time of our visit. North of it, extending from the 
lowlands into the mountains and the jungles, is the 
Tallapudi district, which was under the care of Bev. 
0. L. Larson. 

On the east side of the river are four districts. 
Lowest down in the delta is the Dowlaishwaram dis¬ 
trict with its chief station of the same name as the dis¬ 
trict only four miles below Bajahmundry. Bev. Budolph 
Arps was in charge of this field. Twenty-eight miles 
east of Bajahmundry is Samulkot under the supervision 
of Dr. H. E. Isaacson. Some twenty miles northeast 


116 GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 

of Eajahmundry is Jaggampeta. From this point the 
district extends northward far into the hills and the 
jungles. This field was under the care of Eev. 0. 0. 
Eckardt. Lying immediately north of Eajahmundry 
and along the eastern side of the river is the Koru- 
konda district. It was in charge of the Eev. K. L. 
Wolters. 

About a mile north of Eajahmundry there rises a 
hill in an even slope from all sides, commanding a 
lovely view of the neighboring country for miles around 
and especially toward the west, where the majestic 
Godavari spreads out its broad, silvery band.- This 
hill is known as Luthergiri, which simply means Luther 
hill. Here our Boys’ Central School is located. There 
is a magnificent red sandstone bungalow, almost re¬ 
sembling a castle in its massive proportions. It is per¬ 
haps the most imposing mission bungalow we saw in 
India. But it must be admitted that its building was 
a mistake. It costs too much money for the use it will 
ever be put to. It is a double bungalow and is meant 
for two missionary families. But two families will 
find it just as difficult to live under the same roof in 
India as in America. At the time of our visit it was 
occupied by Eev. K. L. Wolters, who is not a married 
man, and by Eev. C. F. Kuder, whose family is in 
America. 

Near this bungalow is a two-story school building, a 
beautiful structure of red sandstone, which can be seen 
from a great distance in all directions. Here is where 
we educate our native workers. There are at present 
some over 150 students. They are Christian boys from 
the villages of t*he various mission districts of our field. 



Decorations in front of houses. (Page 112.) 











118 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Their ages range from 9 to 21 years, the average age 
being 13 years. The course, which follows the two years 
of the parochial or village school, embraces six years. 
The studies include the common branches—reading, 
writing, arithmetic, grammar, and history—which are 
all taught in the Telugu language. In addition to this 
there is a course in Christianity for each year, including 
Bible Study and Catechism and a short course in Chris¬ 
tian Doctrine, Sacred History, and Church History. 

The English government has established a school sys¬ 
tem for India. It begins with the lowest infant classes 
and runs up through the eight grades to the high school, 
then through the high school and the college to the uni¬ 
versity. For every grade and for each year of the high 
school and college certain branches of study are re¬ 
quired and also a certain degree of excellency in each 
subject. Examinations are conducted under govern¬ 
ment regulations. Any person or association may estab¬ 
lish and conduct these schools. To the required courses 
any other subject may be added. All schools that come 
up to the required standards are recognized by the gov- 
erment and receive an annual appropriation of govern¬ 
ment funds. It is not a very large amount, but it is 
sufficient to encourage every school to strive for govern¬ 
ment recognition. As a rule the missionaries have 
availed themselves of this opportunity, and, hence, we 
find a striking similarity in the educational work of all 
the missions in India. Our parochial as well as higher 
schools are recognized by the government and receive 
their allotted share of the government funds. 

We could have a larger number of boys attending this 
school if we could only afford to support them. Our 


IlAJAHMUNDRY. 


119 


boys belong to the poorest people in India, and we have 
to furnish them not only tuition but also board and room 
free. It costs about thirty dollars a year for each boy. 
This is not a large sum, but when you have about 150 
boys to support it counts up. The number that may 
be received from each district each term is therefore lim¬ 
ited. There is often a contest for the opportunity to go 
to the boarding school from many of our districts. There 
is abundant work for them all if we only had the means 
to educate them and to pay their salaries afterwards 
when they get into the work. 

In connection with the Boys’ Central School there is 
also a Training School for Teachers or Masters as they 
call them in India. Last year it had an enrollment of 
76. These schools are under the able management of 
Bev. C. F. Kuder. 

The dormitory lies east of the school building. It is 
one story high and is built of concrete. It is in the form 
of the three sides of a rectangle; a stone wall with two 
gates forms the fourth side. Within the rectangle thus 
formed is a large open court into which all the students’ 
rooms open. The rooms are about fifteen feet square 
and contain from six to ten boys. There is little or no 
furniture. The boys sleep on palmleaf mats on the floor. 
The mat is rolled up in the daytime and placed along the 
wall. A lamp, suspended from the ceiling, lights the 
room. Around this light the boys do their studying in 
the evenings. They sit tailor fashion on the floor with 
their books and writing tablets on their knees. 

Their meals are eaten on the veranda that fronts the 
whole line of rooms. They sit down on the floor in 
little groups of six or eight. On a given signal they are 


120 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


quiet and grace is said. Then two boys of each group 
repair to the kitchen, which is located in one angle of 
the dormitory. They return, one with a pot of boiled 
rice and the other with a dish of curry. Each boy is 
given a liberal portion of rice in his bowl and the curry 
sauce is poured over it. Then they set to work to eat, 
using neither spoons nor forks, only their fingers. It is 
a real pleasure to see them eat; they relish it so. 

At first when we saw the scanty furniture and few 
comforts provided for the boys we thought that the 
mission ought to do a little better by them. But when 
we, a little later, visited the homes from which these 
boys had come, and saw the wretched condition there, 
we found that the boys were much better provided for 
at the dormitory than they were at home. We also real¬ 
ized that it would not do to educate our boys away from 
their poor people, for we would then have little use of 
them afterwards. The salaries we pay our native work¬ 
ers are so small that they cannot afford a high standard 
of living. Neither can the native church when it be¬ 
comes self-supporting afford anything better. 

Chapel exercises are conducted every morning. Prayer 
meetings are held by the students each week. A literary 
society has been organized by the students, and weekly 
meetings are held. 

Our Girls’ Central School is located in the heart of 
the city of Eajahmundry. It is under the able man¬ 
agement of Miss Agnes I. Schade. It is a model school 
of its kind. Nowhere else in India did we see a better 
one. There are at present about 170 girls enrolled. 
They are Christian girls and come from the same class 
of homes as the boys of Luthergiri. They are preparing 



Glimpses of three Continents. 9. 


Railway Bridge at Rajahmundry. (Page 112.) 









122 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



themselves especially for teaching, and many of them 
will become the wives of the boys at Luthergiri. Much 
of what has been said about the Boys’ School applies to 
this one too. The cost of supporting a girl at this 
school is only fifteen dollars a year. 

These educational institutions constitute a most im¬ 
portant part of our mission work—the training of 
native workers. A second division of our work aims 
especially to reach the caste people and to undermine 
the system of caste. 

The caste system of India is, perhaps, the most re¬ 
markable social institution in the world. Nobody knows 
its origin. Its history has never been written. It is 
racial, tribal, social, religious, and industrial in its 


The Girls’ Central School. 






RAJAIIMUNDRY. 


123 


nature if not in its origin. There appears to have been 
four original castes — the Brahman, the Kshatriya, the 
Vaisya, and the Sudra. These primal castes have been 
divided and subdivided again and again, like the branch¬ 
es of a tree, until there are to-day many hundreds or 
rather thousands of castes. Nobody knows how many. 
These various castes are separated the one from the other 
by the strictest caste rules, all having a religious sanc¬ 
tion. It is as impossible for a member of one caste to 
enter another caste as it is for him to change his birth. 
A man may marry into a lower related caste, but a 
woman never. The result is that in the lower castes 
there is apt to be men without wives and in the higher 
castes women without husbands. Social relations be¬ 
tween persons of different castes are prohibited. Many 
a caste man would rather die than eat or drink what has 
been prepared or touched by one of a lower caste or an 
outcaste. Caste rules were enforced much more rigidly 
formerly than now. The influence of Christianity, 
commerce, railroads, travel in foreign lands — forbid¬ 
den by caste rules — all tend to weaken the bonds of 
caste. 

When a caste man becomes a Christian he loses caste 
and becomes an outcaste. He is disowned by his family 
—father, mother, wife, brothers and sisters. A funeral 
service is performed over him. He is dead to all his 
people. Those who for the love of Christ are willing 
to take this step are very few. They must sacrifice what 
is dearer to them than life itself. “I know/* said a caste 
man one day to one of our missionaries, “that the Chris¬ 
tian religion is the only true religion/’ “Why, then, 
do you not become a Christian?” asked the missionary. 


124 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


“How can I break the heart of my poor old mother?” 
was his reply. That expresses the situation. Hence, 
the progress of Christianity among the caste people is 
necessarily slow. But such accessions are usually of the 
very best kind. They have become Christians from con¬ 
viction and through much suffering and sacrifice. It is 
always regarded a great victory to secure a person of 
caste, especially of an upper caste, for Christ. 

It is because of this difficulty of reaching the caste 
people that the mission work in India is largely con¬ 
ducted among the outcastes. There are about 50,000,000 
of these poor, downtrodden outcastes in India. They 
are, perhaps, the poorest and most oppressed people in 
the world. They own no property. They work as coolies, 
when they can get work, for wages that barely enable 
them to keep body and soul together. They rarely ever 
get enough to eat. For thousands of years they have 
been a hungry race until hunger is written in their 
build and in their faces. Over fifty millions of people 
go to bed hungry every night. It is among this people 
that our missionaries work. And certainly no people 
in the world need the uplifting power of the gospel, 
even for this life, any more than do these poor outcastes 
of India. 

On the way from Mayavaram to Madras I met an up¬ 
per caste man, who was a university graduate and who 
spoke English perfectly. He took me for a missionary 
and entered into conversation with me. “Why do you 
missionaries,” said he, “always work among the good- 
for-nothing outcastes? Why don’t you work among the 
caste people that amount to something?” 

“That is your way of looking at it,” said I. “Accord- 


RAJAHMUNDHY. 


125 


ing to our view the poor outcastes are our brethren, just 
as dear in the sight of God as you or I. But aside from 
that, who needs the uplifting work of the missionary the 
most, you or they ?” 

“Why they do of course,” he replied, “but what does 
it amount to? They will never be self-supporting. If 
you worked among the caste people you could soon get 
self-supporting churches.” 

“Well,” said I, “would you be willing then to have 
us begin with you? Would you be willing to become a 
Christian?” 

“No, of course not.” 

“Any of your family?” 

“No.” 

“Any of your caste?” 

“No.” 

“Any caste people that you know of?” 

“No.” 

“Well, that is the situation. The caste people have 
shut the door against the gospel. Why should we waste 
our time and our energy before the bolted door when 
there are millions and millions of poor and oppressed 
people who are willing to receive the message?” 

This has been the way of God’s kingdom in all climes 
and all ages. It was a sign of the Messiahship of Jesus 
that the poor had the gospel preached to them. It was 
among the poor and the lowly that our S'aviour had his 
friends when here on earth. In the early church there 
were “not many wise men after the flesh, not many 
mighty, not many noble.” God, no doubt, has his hand 
in this work in India. It is well that we have to begin 
at the bottom. If we could begin at the top and should 


126 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


succeed in reaching the Brahmans, Christianity would, 
perhaps, assume so philosophical a form that the poor 
ignorant masses could never understand it. As it is the 
gospel has to be presented in its simplest form, and the 
work must proceed from the bottom upward. 

But while we are thus devoting our efforts principally 
to the outcastes we are not neglecting the caste people. 
We have at least three agencies at work, aiming 
especially to reach the caste people and to undermine 
the caste system. First there are the schools for caste 
children. In some missions they have schools for caste 
boys as well as for girls. As yet we have such schools 
for girls only. We have six caste girls* schools in 
Rajahmundry. They are under the able direction of 
Miss Emily Weiskotten. There are 280 caste girls en¬ 
rolled in these schools. Many of these girls come from 
wealthy homes. They study besides the ordinary school 
branches also Christianity. They learn Luther’s Cate¬ 
chism and Bible History, commit whole chapters of the 
New Testament to memory, and join in repeating 
prayers and in singing Christian hymns. 

When a certain high caste man was asked once how 
he dared to send his daughter to such a school, and if 
he wasn’t afraid that she might become a Christian, he 
smiled and said, “Oh, no, our caste is stronger than 
your Christ.” So he thought, and so it often seems. 
But he was mistaken. He did not know that where 
God’s word is used his Spirit works. It happens at 
times, especially in seasons of sorrow or trouble, that a 
girl turns to the missionary and asks to become a Chris¬ 
tian. But if she goes home and tells her mother, she is 
not allowed to return to school any more. She is not 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


127 


permitted to leave home and all her movements are care¬ 
fully watched. But even so it happens at times that 
one escapes and forsakes home and father and mother 
and all for Christ. This work is a quiet sowing of the 
seed. There will be a rich harvest in God’s own time. 

Another agency for reaching the caste people is the 
Zenana work. The life of a caste woman, especially 
after her marriage* is one of the narrowest and most 
monotonous imaginable. She is shut up within the 
zenana, or woman’s department of the home. She may 
possibly not go as far as a half a mile from her home all 
the rest of her life. Her surroundings are cheerless in 
the extreme and lack all ennobling and elevating ele¬ 
ments. As a rule she does not know how to read. She 
knows nothing of literature or art. She has a small 
fund of silly stories about the gods, which she has 
learned from her mother, and which she, in turn, 
teaches her children. To such a home the Zenana 
teacher or the Bible woman is a most welcome visitor 
when she has once been admitted. The wonderful 
stories of the Bible are listened to with the deepest 
interest and attention. At times the word of God makes 
direct conquests, in other cases it is again a sowing for 
future harvests. 

This work can be carried on only by women, for it is 
not permitted the caste women of India to appear in 
the presence of other men than their husbands or near¬ 
est relatives, nor to listen to their voices. The women 
of India are wonderfully devoted to their husbands. 
They treat them with the greatest respect and will not 
even venture to speak their names. A woman will refer 
to her husband as the father of her children or use some 


128 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


pronoun like “he” or “him.” This aversion to men¬ 
tioning the husband’s name is common to both caste 
women and outeastes and continues even after conver¬ 
sion to Christianity. Thus a missionary informs us 
that at the singing of a song in which the Saviour was 
referred to as the Morning Star, one of the converts 
substituted the expression Morning Sun, and when 
asked why she did so, she replied that the other word 
was the name of her husband and it was not proper for 
her to utter it. 

One of our missionaries related the following experi¬ 
ence. A caste man, having listened to one of his dis¬ 
courses, expressed a wish that the women might also 
hear it. He consulted with a number of his fellow caste 
men. It was arranged that the missionary should de¬ 
liver his addresses from behind a thick curtain, so that 
the women might hear without seeing the missionary 
or being seen by him. The missionary was glad of this 
opportunity and delivered his address. He arranged 
also for a second and a third address and flattered him¬ 
self that a way had been found whereby the gospel 
might be preached to the caste women. So having on 
his third attempt spoken a while, he thought he would 
ask a few questions to see if the women had understood 
him. But no answer came to his question. He asked 
again and again. Finally a child’s voice spoke up and 
said, “There is no one here but me, the rest left after 
you began speaking each time.” It would have been 
wrong for these women, according to their belief, to 
have listened to his voice. So this work must be done 
by the women for some time yet. 

In the death of Miss Charlotte Swenson our Zenana 


RAJAHMTJNDRY. 


129 


work sustained a great loss. Miss Schade, who had her 
hands full with the management of the Girls’ Central 
School, assumed the direction of this work too. She 
had under her supervision six Bible women, through 
whose labors some forty homes in Rajahmundry and 
Dowlaishwaram were visited. Miss Sigrid Esberhn had 
just arrived on the field and was studying the language. 
This she has now mastered and is actively engaged in 
the work. Miss S’. E. Monroe, who was then on fur¬ 
lough, has since returned to the field and is now in 
charge of this department of our work. 

A third agency for reaching the caste people and for 
undermining the caste system is the work of the Medical 
Missionary. The old saying, “Man’s extremity is God’s 



The Medical Home. 






130 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


opportunity,” holds true with regard to mission work. 
When caste women and children are taken sick, and the 
miserable native quacks fail to render them the needed 
aid, they finally come to the medical missionary for 
help. They are taken to the hospital. There they re¬ 
ceive kind and efficient treatment. They stay for a 
longer or shoiter time and in most cases return home 
well and happy and wfith praises of the hospital upon 
their lips. But while they have thus received bodily 
help they have also been instructed spiritually. There 
are Bible pictures upon the walls in every room and 
ward—pictures of Christ as the Good Shepherd, Christ 
blessing little children, the Return of the Prodigal Son, 
Christ in Gethsemane, and the like. These pictures 
interest the women, the young girls, and the children 
very much. In many respects these women are like 
children. They want to know what the pictures mean, 
and the Christian nurse has a chance to tell the beau¬ 
tiful stories connected with the pictures. Thus when 
the patient leaves the hospital she carries with her at 
least a faint knowledge of Jesus and his love. 

At the time we were in India our hospital work was 
conducted in a native house, rented for the purpose. 
As delicate operations could not be thought of there 
our medical missionaries were greatly handicapped. 
Since then, however, a magnificent hospital building 
has been erected. It is located near the Medical Home 
in the southern part of the city. 

Connected with the hospital is a dispensary where 
medicine is dispensed or sold to the natives in need. 
It is in charge of one or another of the medical mis¬ 
sionaries. At regular hours each day patients may 



The Neiv Hospital. 







132 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


come for consultation and medicine. The dispensary 
is usually a busy place. The patients are served by turns 
and it often happens that many of them have to wait a 
long time before their turn comes. A waiting room is 
provided for the purpose and a competent Bible woman 
is employed to give instruction in the Bible to the 
women while waiting. Thus an opportunity is afforded 
for giving spiritual as well as physical help. Some of 
the women get so interested in the Bible stories that, 
after receiving their medicine, they return to hear more. 

We have three excellent medical missionaries on the 
field to-day: Dr. Lydia Woerner, who has been engaged 
in the work since 1899; Dr. Amy Rohrer, since the be¬ 
ginning of 1908; and Dr. Betty Nilsson, since the close 
of the same year. Miss Agatha Tatge left for India in 
September 1911 to assume the duties of head nurse in 
our new hospital. 

The third great division of our work is the Evangelis¬ 
tic and Pastoral work among the outcaste population in 
the villages comprised in our mission districts. As has 
already been said, we had at the time of our visit seven 
such districts. It was our privilege to visit each of them 
in company with the missionary in charge. We thus 
had the advantage not only of seeing the country and 
learning the extent of our field, but also of getting 
glimpses of the manner in which the work is conducted. 

The second week of our stay in Rajahmundry we had 
the pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the 
Mission Council, composed of all the regularly called 
missionaries on our field. The council met in the River- 
dale bungalow on Monday, January 4, and remained in 
session until Friday afternoon of the same week. We 



The Mission Council and Our Party. 





134 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



thus had a chance to hear the various mission problems 
discussed in the most practical way by the men and 
women in the work. Our itinerary through the various 
districts was also arranged at this meeting. 

Mrs. Foss and Maitha remained at home in our bun¬ 
galow in Rajahmundry, making occasional visits to the 
missionaries and institutions in the city and a two days’ 
visit to Rev. and Mrs. Larson’s home in Tallapudi, 
while Dr. Benze and I made the tour of the districts. 
It was arranged that we should begin with the Tadepal- 
leguderri district, which, as has been said, was then in 
charge of Rev. Ernst Neudoerffer. As this district lies 
in the Delta we could travel by means of canal boats. 
Our good friend, Rev. Allen 0. Becker of Guntur, kind¬ 
ly gave us the use of his house-boat, and for nearly two 


Our Canal Boats. 






RAJAHMUNDRY. 


135 


weeks it served ns as a home as well as a means of trans¬ 
portation. 

Rev. and Mrs. Neudoerffer in their boat, the Canada, 
started out in advance, taking our boat with provisions 
and servants with them to Nidadavol-, a small place 
about ten miles southwest of Rajahmundry on one of 
the canals. 

On Friday evening, January 8, we said good-by to 
Rajahmundry and our people there and took the train 
to Nidadavol, where we found Rev. and Mrs. 'N'eudoerf- 
fer waiting for us with our boat and servants. While 
we slept on our comfortable cots our boatmen propelled 
our crafts down the canal at times by means of long 
bamboo poles, which they thrust into the bottom of the 
canal and thus pushed the boat along, and at times by 
means of long ropes after the manner of canal mules. 

In the morning we found ourselves at Yelpur, where 
we have one of our oldest church buildings. It is a 
humble structure, built by Rev. E. Pohl. The rear part 
is used as a residence for the native teacher and 
preacher in charge of the work. We had no services 
at this place, but in the neighboring village of Bab- 
barasupalem, some four miles distant. The only way 
for us to reach it was to go afoot across the rice fields. 
This is the most common way for the missionaries to 
travel from village to village. Though it was the second 
week in January it was a very hot morning, like our 
July weather. A number of the native Christians came 
out to meet us and escorted us to the little prayer house, 
which serves for both church and school house. It was 
an earthen structure with palm leaf thatch. It ap¬ 
peared to be about 12x15 feet in size and the walls 


136 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


about 7 feet high. There were no windows but an 
opening on each side to let in light and air. There was 
no floor nor seats or pews. The people sat on the 
ground, which was stamped hard and smooth. A 
wooden table served for an altar, and three blocks of 
wood or stumps served us for chairs. This description 
will do for most of the prayer houses on our mission field. 

Our missionary, Eev. Neudoerffer, announced a hymn, 
which was sung by the whole congregation. We noticed 
here, as we did afterwards at every place, that the 
children took an active part in the service and the sing¬ 
ing and that they always sat in front. It has been said 
that the Telugus love singing more than any other 
people in India, and judging from what we saw of them, 
we had no reason to doubt the truth of the saying. 
After Scripture reading and prayer and a short sermon. 



A Village Prayer House. 



RAJAHMUNDRY. 


137 


the missionary said, turning to us, “And now the people 
want to hear from the commissioners. Tell them some¬ 
thing about America.” 

This we accordingly did as well as we could, speaking 
English, while our missionary interpreted for us sen¬ 
tence by sentence. I am not able now to give even the 
substance of Dr. Benze’s address, but I remember my 
own. After expressing my pleasure at meeting our 
Christian people in India and my regret that I did not 
know their language so that I could speak directly to 
them, I told them that I brought them greetings from 
the great church in America that had sent out the mis¬ 
sionaries to them to show them the way of life and had 
sent us to see how they were getting along. Then I 
told them of some of the striking differences between 
India and America and added, “While we are sitting 
here sweltering in the heat our people at home are shiv¬ 
ering with cold, the ground in some places may be 
covered with a foot of snow, and the rivers frozen over 
so you can walk across them and even drive across 
them.” Our missionary told me afterwards that some 
of the people asked him if I really meant that or if I 
only said it for fun. They could not understand how 
water can get hard so you can walk on it, for ice is 
unknown to them. 

“But,” I continued, “while things are so different in 
America from what they are here and while you and 
we differ so much, yet we have many things in com¬ 
mon. We read the same Bible, we worship the same 
Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus, we hope some day to 
meet in the same home above, where we shall all be 
alike and where we shall all understand one another.” 

Glimpses of three Continents. 10. 


138 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Then the teacher, E. Johan, of the village asked pei- 
mission to say a few words on behalf of the congrega¬ 
tion. He said the people wanted to thank ns for coming 
so far to visit them, and they wanted to send their 
“salaams”—their greetings and their thanks—to the 
church in America for sending these missionaries to 
labor among them and to teach them the way of life. 
And the people said, “Salaam.” 

We returned to our boats and had our breakfast. 
While we rested our boatmen pulled us down the stream 
to Penumantra. From this place we walked to the 
village of Polamur to visit a village school. The chil¬ 
dren came out to meet us, singing songs and forming 
lines on either side of the road as we passed on, bowing 
and salaaming. The school house was beautifully dec¬ 
orated with flowers and mottoes in English and Telugu. 
The children sang songs and recited Bible verses, and 
we were asked to examine them in the catechism and 
Bible history. There were two teachers at this place, 
a man and his wife. Here as at other places, afterwards 
visited, the children sent their “salaams” to the school 
children of our church in America. We have, according 
to the latest report, 201 such schools in our several 
districts with an enrollment of 4,971 pupils. We found 
the children well informed in the catechism and the 
Bible. After the exercises the children came around to 
be noticed and to be spoken to just as our own children 
would do on similar occasions. 

In the evening, after we had had our dinner, we went 
to service in the village prayer house in Penumantra. 
Evening services are not often held in India. The little 
prayer house was not provided with lamps, and the lan- 



* 


Early Meal on our Houseboat. 











140 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


terns we brought furnished a poor excuse for light. We 
returned to our boats about 11 p. m., having walked 
about fifteen miles that day. 

Our next stopping place was Unikili, on the same 
canal. Here we spent two days. Our missionary had 
arranged a harvest home festival. A pandal, or tem¬ 
porary structure of palm branches, had been erected 
with a capacity of about 600. The exercises extended 
over two days and were all well attended. People came 
together from a number of neighboring villages. Be¬ 
sides Eev. and Mrs. Neudoerffer there were present of 
our missionaries also Dr. and Mrs. Harpster and Miss 
Schade. Addresses were made by Bev. Neudoerffer, 
Dr. Harpster, the two commissioners, and three native 
catechists. * 

Our missionary had requested the people to bring 
something as an offering. The object was to raise funds 
for a church building on the grounds occupied by the 
pandal. It was almost pathetic to see what the poor 
people had brought. Some had brought a melon, others 
a whisk of rice, a bunch of onions, a few eggs, a chicken, 
a duck, and the like. At the close of the meeting these 
articles were sold at auction. This was conducted in 
the same way as in this country. The articles were sold 
to the highest bidder. Some were returned by the 
generous buyer to be sold over again. When the services 
were over and the money all counted it was found that 
nearly 300 rupees, that is nearly $100, had been raised. 
We were told that some of the poor people had actually 
starved for a time in order to have something to give. 

In connection with this festival we had the pleasure 
of witnessing a Christian marriage ceremony performed 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


141 


by Eev. Neudoerffer. The contracting parties were 
Sandy Daniel and Madura Elizabeth. Both were bare¬ 
foot, and it seemed perfectly natural and proper. We 
had by this time become accustomed to such sights. 

Upon leaving Unikili we passed out of the Tadepalli- 
gudem into the Bhimavaram district, where Dr. Harp- 
ster was in charge. We halted at the village of Vendra 
and visited a school and conducted services, and then 
proceeded to the city of Bhimavaram, which we reached 
the next morning, Wednesday, January 13. This is the 
central station of the great Bhimavaram district. There 
is only a temporary bungalow here, which is hardly fit 
for a missionary to live in. A substantial bungalow at 
this place is very much needed. 

Here we met Dr. H. C. Schmidt, the former mis¬ 
sionary superintendent of our Telugu mission. He had 
come down from his upland home at Kotagiri and had 
arrived the evening before. We spent nearly a week in 
this district, during which time we made Bhimavaram 
our headquarters, making excursions, mostly on foot, to 
a number of neighboring villages. 

While here we inspected the so-called Haas Lands. 
These lands consist of 281 acres in larger and smaller 
patches scattered over a considerable stretch of territory. 
They were purchased many years ago by Dr. Schmidt 
with money donated by a Mr. Haas of Lancaster, Pa. 
It was hoped that these lands could be used for estab¬ 
lishing agricultural villages of native Christians, who 
would be able to pay a small rent to the mission for the 
use of the lands, and that other portions not so used 
could be leased to Sudras for a good rental and thus 
prove a steady income for the mission. The plan has, 


142 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



however, proved a dismal failure. The missionary in 
charge of the district could not devote himself to the 
work and the native agent, Cornelius, employed by Dr. 
Schmidt and afterwards by Dr. Harpster, proved ut¬ 
terly unreliable. Thus the lands in spite of the best 
intentions of the donor and of Dr. Schmidt have brought 
nothing but trouble and loss to the mission. In our re¬ 
port as commissioners we recommended that these lands 
be sold at the earliest opportunity. Other missions have 
had the same experiences with land purchases in India. 

In several villages in this district we had a chance to 
inspect the lace work done by native women under the 
direction of Mrs. Harpster. There were about two 
hundred Christian women engaged in this work. They 
were able to make about 4 annas, or 8 cents, a day. The 
lace is shipped to America and sold, but ao the duty is 
sixty per cent, the profit is very small. 


Lace Workers. 





RAJAHMUNDRY. 


143 



On Sunday morning, January 17, there was held in 
the Bhimavaram church perhaps the largest gathering 
of native Christians that has ever been held on our field. 
The meeting had been well announced and people came 
in from eighty different villages to the number, it was 
said, of 3,000 men, women, and children. 


The Church at Bhimavaram. 

The church at Bhimavaram was built by Dr. H. C. 
Schmidt in 1894. It is a stone structure in the form 
of a Latin cross. It is furnished with a steeple and a 
bell. There is an altar and a pulpit, but no pews. In¬ 
stead of glass windows wooden shutters are used. It 
has a seating capacity of about 2,000. On the Sunday 
referred to about 1,000 stood outside around the doors 
and windows. 







144 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


It was a wonderful sight to see those poor natives in 
their strange costumes assembled to worship God. Only 
a few years ago they were nearly all heathen. Regular 
services were conducted. The sermon was preached in 
Telugu by Dr. Harpster. The addresses by the com¬ 
missioners were translated sentence by sentence into 
Telugu. At the close of the services a collection was 
taken up. The native workers of the district collected 
the offerings and placed them on the altar. As I looked 
out upon that sea of hungry looking natives I wondered 
what they could have to give, but when the offerings 
were counted they amounted to nearly 900 rupees, that 
is, nearly 300 dollars. 

This was of course a special occasion, and special 
efforts had been put forth, but all things considered, 
the gathering and the offerings were certainly remark¬ 
able. As a rule, collections are taken up at all services, 
and the natives are thus trained to give to the support 
of the church. The ultimate aim of the foreign mis¬ 
sionary should be to make himself and his work super¬ 
fluous — to establish a native church to carry on the 
work. To fulfill this calling the native church must be 
self-propagating, self-governing, and self-supporting. 
It is, therefore, a prime duty of the missionaries to de¬ 
velop the church along these lines. The extreme pover¬ 
ty of the Christians in India renders self-support ex¬ 
ceedingly difficult, but if the resources of the native 
church are small the expenses of the native workers are 
also small. The general ignorance and the lack of self- 
direction among the native Christians render the self- 
government of the church also extremely difficult. In 
the matter of self-propagation the native church is, 


HA J AHMUNDRY. 


145 


perhaps, nearer its goal. Most of the preaching in In¬ 
dia to-day is done by the natives themselves. It is 
estimated that three-fourths of the conversions in India 
at the present time are wrought through native preach¬ 
ing. 

The next day we had an opportunity of attending 
the meeting of the missionary with the native workers. 
It is customary for the district missionary to have such 
monthly meetings with his native helpers. The various 
phases of the work are then discussed, advice may be 
asked and instruction given. Here, too, the native agents 
receive their monthly salaries. This is our largest 
district, and, hence, has the largest number of native 
workers. No less than 81 of them were present at this 



Group of Native Workers. 




146 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


meeting. Here it was plainly seen that the office of the 
district missionary resembles that of a bishop or super¬ 
intendent and that he must possess executive ability and 
good practical sense as well as earnest piety and a 
fervent missionary spirit. 

Among other matters that came up for consideration, 
were the applications of Christian boys of the district 
for admission to the Boys 5 Central School at Luthergiri. 
Fifty applications were made, but only thirty could be 
admitted from the field. Each teacher urged the claims 
of his pupils. S’ome of the parents were present too to 
plead for their boys. There were many sore disappoint¬ 
ments, and some turned away with tears. 

We had now spent five days in this district, making 
Bhimavaram our headquarters, and living in our house 
boat. The time had now come for us to advance further. 
At four o’clock on Monday afternoon we bade farewell 
to Bhimavaram, and after a sail of two hours, reached 
the village of Gunapudi on another branch of the canal. 
There a new prayer house had been erected by the native 
Christians, and it was planned to have it dedicated on 
this occasion. Time, however, did not permit it. Serv¬ 
ices began at six o’clock in the evening and continued 
until nine. There were sermons and addresses as usual. 
Among the most interesting parts of the program was 
an historical sketch of the congregation given by one of 
the older members. Eighty persons, most of them 
adults, were baptized. 

A hearty address to us on behalf of the native workers 
by one of them and the kindly gift to each of us of 
a Telugu testament made a deep impression on us that 
shall never wear away. The native workers and a large 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


147 


part of the congregation accompanied us to our boat. 
As we sailed away we waved our salaams to the little 
group of Christians on the shore, lighted up by the 
torches they had brought. All around was darkness, 
but over and around them was light—a picture of the 
church itself. 

All that night and the next day our men tugged up 
stream, and at about seven o’clock in the evening we 
reached Nidadavol in time to take the train for Rajah- 
mundry. We had now visited two of our mission dis¬ 
tricts—Tadepalligudem and Bhimavaram. 

We rested a day at Rajahmundry and made plans for 
visiting the other districts. Early the next morning 
we took the ferry across the Godavari to Kavour, where 
we were met by a native with a bullock bandy. We 
were now in the uplands and could not travel by means 
of house boats any more. Our progress in the bandy 



Mission Bungalow at Tadepalligudem. 














148 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


on the road to Tallapudi was very slow, only about two 
miles an hour. We were soon met by Rev. 0. L. Larson, 
who was traveling on a bicycle. As we were now in his 
district he took charge for a while. We visited three 
of his schools on the way and reached Tallapudi at about 
noon. Here we met Mrs. Larson and the little girl 
Hortense and had a pleasant visit. After breakfast we 
went out to see the church and other mission property 
of the place. The schoolhouse in the village is com¬ 
modious and well built. There were about 20 Christian 
children and 10 non-Christian. They recited Bible 
history and catechism and sang Telugu songs for us. 
They also passed through a gymnastic drill and played 
native games for our entertainment. 

In the evening services were conducted in the beau¬ 
tiful little church of the place. The liturgical part was 
rendered by Rev. Larson and the sermon was preached 
by a native catechist named Anandappen. Addresses 
were made as usual by the commissioners. 

Early the next day after chota hazeri, we bade good¬ 
bye to Mrs. Larson and the little girl and set out on a 
day’s touring. Again we traveled by bullock bandy. 
Rev. Larson as on the day previous used his bicycle. 
We visited the mission school at Peddahem and had 
our dinner, or as we called it breakfast, at a travelers’ 
bungalow, or rest house. The eatables had all been 
carried along, and the servants who accompanied us soon 
prepared a tasty meal. 

After a little rest for ourselves and our oxen we set 
out again. Our next stop was at the village of Kunku- 
dimalli, where we had a school of about 30 children.* 
Divine services were conducted beneath the shade of a 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


149 



temporary structure, or pandal, of palm leaves. After 
services we bade farewell to Rev. Larson and walked 
across the fields, a short distance, to the next village, 
where we took the train to Rajahmundry. 

We had now finished our tour on the west side of the 
river and were ready to begin our work on the east side. 
Our first field here was the Dowlaishwaram district. The 
chief station in the district is the city of Dowlaishwa¬ 
ram, about four miles south of Rajahmundry. The Rev. 
Rudolph Arps, who was then intrusted with the care of 
this district, now took us in charge. We were again in 
the delta region and could travel by canal boats once 
more. Rev. and Mrs. Arps had their own boat, the 
Marguerite, while we rented a government boat for a 
few days. 


Dowlaishwaram Church and Schoolhouse. 





150 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



Rev. Arps' Bungalow. 


We sailed down one of the eastern canals and visited 
a number of villages where we have congregations and 
schools. At one village there was placed under a tree 
a stone image of a goddess. As we passed by it I re¬ 
marked that I should like to have that image for our 
historical collection at Augustana College. It was a 
genuine goddess, one that had been worshiped, one of 
native workmanship and not made in Germany. Mrs. 
Arps said she would ask the magistrate of the village 
for it. He said he would inquire about it and let us 
know later. In the afternoon of the same day he said 
I could have it as they were going to get a new one any¬ 
way. I had it taken to our boat and then conveyed to 
Rajahmundry and from there shipped to Rock Island. 
It is now in the college museum. 

On Monday, Jan. 25th, we floated down the canal to 







The Dr. Kellock Home for Lepers. 

















152 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Ramachandrapuram where we stopped to visit “The Dr. 
Kellock Home for Lepers”, maintained by the Canadian 
Baptists. The institution is in charge of a devoted 
Christian woman, Miss S. Isabel Hatch. There were 
at the time 94 lepers in the home. All but seven are 
Christians though only eleven were Christians when they 
came there. They were all called together in a large 
assembly room. A song was sung and prayer was of¬ 
fered in Telugu by Rev. Arps. One after another the 
patients were called on to recite some Bible passage. 
This they did with readiness and cheerfulness. We 
were also asked to say a few words of cheer and en¬ 
couragement. It seemed very strange and solemn in¬ 
deed to stand before these poor, afflicted people, in the 
presence of a living death. But all of them seemed so 
cheerful and happy that much of the horror was re¬ 
moved. Lepers may frequently be seen in the villages 
in India, for segregation is not practiced to any great 
extent. There are about sixty such Leper Asylums in 
India, but not one of them owes its origin to the Hindus 
themselves. 

Our next halting place was the village of Tapesweram. 
From here we made an excursion on foot to the village 
of Yedite, where we found a Christian congregation as¬ 
sembled for worship. The magistrate of the village was 
a caste man and not a Christian, but he had donated 
the ground on which the prayer house was built and in 
various other ways had aided the Christians. When we 
were ready to return to our boat he came out to meet 
us and escorted us about half of the way. The greater 
part of the congregation did the same. This is a com¬ 
mon method of showing politeness and 'good will. As 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


153 


we did not know Telugu we could talk with them only 
through an interpreter. But our missionary told us 
that they did not expect us to talk with them; polite¬ 
ness only required them to escort us in this way. It 
was not the first time it had happened us; in*fact we 
had been escorted in this way at every place. One after 
another would drop out and return home, but the more 
prominent ones would often come forward and ask per¬ 
mission to return. That is what our magistrate did on 
this occasion. He had accompanied us perhaps two 
miles. We thanked him as sincerely and politely as we 
could and bowed our "salaams". He, however, replied 
in his polite way that he regarded it a great honor to 
escort us on our way. 

As we were passing through a wooded place we saw 
before us a moving figure with black and yellow stripes, 
resembling a tiger. What could it be ? We were in the 
midst of a thickly settled community, far from the 
jungles; there could certainly be no tigers here. No, it 
was not a tiger, but a man painted to represent one. 
We now learned that this was the first week of the Mo¬ 
hammedan year, and that the Festival of Muharram was 
celebrated during the first ten days of each year by the 
Shiite sect of Mohammedans in commemoration of the 
martyrdom of Husein, the son of Ali and grandson of 
Mohammed. This festival was at first a solemn, relig¬ 
ious celebration, but in the course of centuries it has 
degenerated into many absurd and even violent practices, 
at times assuming the character of our Halloween 
pranks. The tiger’s form figures very largely in the 
games and ceremonies. The government often finds it 
necessary to appoint a special police force to prevent 


Glimpses of three Continents. 11. 


154 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


violence and bloodshed. During the week which fol¬ 
lowed we saw a great deal of this celebration, for India 
is one of the great Mohammedan lands, containing near¬ 
ly one-third of all the Mohammedans in the world. 

In the evening of the same day, January 26th, we 
tugged up the canal to Kadiam. Here we bade good¬ 
bye to our friends, Eev. and Mrs. Arps, and took the 
train to Samulkot. Mrs. Foss and Martha had taken 
the same train at Eajahmundry, so we met them here. 
The distance from Eajahmundry to Samulkot is only 
28 miles. Our trip was, therefore, a matter of only a 
few minutes. Dr. Isaacson met us at the station with 
a carriage and in a short time we found ourselves in the 
midst of a pleasant home circle. 

The next morning we visited two of the three mission 
schools in the city. As we drove by the old cemetery 
we stopped a few minutes to visit it. Samulkot was at 
one time a military station, and this was an old English 
cemetery. It is now divided into three parts—one be¬ 
longs to the Anglicans, one to the Baptists, and one to 
the Lutherans. One of the most interesting graves is 
that of Mrs. Christina Berg, who died in the year 1806 
at the age of 101 years. 

At about ten o’clock we assembled on the new church 
lot to engage in the ceremony of breaking ground for 
the building of the new Augustana church. Besides 
Dr. Isaacson’s family, Eev. Eckardt, our party, the 
native pastor, Eev. Eutnam, and some other native 
workers, there were present a large number of native 
Christians of the local congregation. The services, con¬ 
sisting of singing, Scripture reading, prayer, and ad¬ 
dresses, were followed by the ceremony of breaking 



*40 

o 


*40 

O 

S 

O 

o 

r< 









156 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



ground. As the representative of the Augustana For¬ 
eign Missionary Society, which had raised the funds 
for the new church, I was accorded the honor of remov¬ 
ing the first shovelful of earth. Then followed in order 


The New Augustana Church. 

Dr. Benze, Dr. Isaacson, Rev. Eckardt, Rev. Rutnam, 
John and Timothy (native workers), Mrs. Foss, Martha, 
Mrs. Isaacson, and her four daughters. It was a day 
of triumph and joy for Dr. and Mrs. Isaacson. 

In the afternoon we drove out to Peddapur, about 




RAJAHMUNDRY. 


157 


two and a half miles northwest of Samulkot, to visit 
our High School at this place. This institution ac¬ 
cording to last year’s report had an enrollment of 365 
boys, 16 of whom were Christians. The great difficulty 
in all Mission High Schools in India is to secure com¬ 
petent Christian teachers and head masters. We hope 
that we may soon be able to secure a Christian head 
master for our High S'chool, and then to educate Chris¬ 
tian teachers as rapidly as possible. As we have already 
remarked, the church in India must in the future 
become self-governing. It is, therefore, very important 
that we educate the necessary leaders. For this we need 
a college in the near future. This we could perhaps 
have in common with the other Lutheran missions in 
the Telugu country. 

We visited the various classes and were given a hearty 
reception by the faculty and students in the evening. 
A large number of leading citizens of the place were 
also present. Addresses were made by representatives 
of the faculty, the students, and the townspeople. A 
Telugu poem composed for the occasion was read or 
chanted and then recited in Sanskrit and finally in Eng¬ 
lish. An English poem composed by a native poet was 
also read. To all this we were of course to respond. 
It requires much wisdom to know what to say on occa¬ 
sions like this. The men who had spoken and most of 
the people present were heathen, but they were learned 
and refined gentlemen. How to tell the truth, to speak 
a word for Christ and for Christian culture in such a 
way as to win your hearers and not drive them into 
opposition, that is the question. The head master at 
the time was a Hindu named Kamarau, but the institu- 


158 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


tion was under the supervision or management of Dr. 
Iasacson. 

The next morning in company with Dr. Isaacson and 
Rev. Eckardt we drove out to Pittapur, a city eight 
miles northeast of Samulkot, to visit the rajah of the 
place. This is one of the few rajahs left in this part 
of India. He does not now exercise any functions of 
government, but he still holds an immense estate from 
which he is said to derive an income of over a million 
dollars a year. He received us on a veranda opening 
into a larger court within the palace. He is a young 
man of some over twenty years and a graduate of the 
University of Madras. He speaks English readily and 
is a quiet and modest man. The manager of the estate, 
one Ramarau, took us through the greater part of the 
palace. It is remarkable not for what it is, but for 
what it has been. It is in a state of dilapidation and 
neglect. It tells a tale of the past and of an order of 
things fast passing away in India. 

We returned to Samulkot in time for late breakfast, 
about one o’clock in the afternoon. While Mrs. Foss 
and Martha remained at Samulkot to continue the visit 
a little longer. Dr. Benze and I continued our touring, 
now passing into the Jaggampet district under the care 
of Rev. Eckardt. The chief station bears the name of 
the district. It is located about twelve miles northwest 
of Samulkot. Dr. Isaacson accompanied us to this 
place. Two of us traveled by a pony bandy and two by 
bicycles. 

On the way we stopped to pay our respects to a 
wealthy zemendar, or land owner, named Sri D. V. Sita- 
ramiah, who had asked us to honor him with a visit. He 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


159 


had been waiting for ns since the forenoon and it was 
now about four o’clock. He received us most cordially 
and took us into his house. A companion or attendant 
of his, who by the way was the poet of the evening before 
at the Peddapur High School, whispered to us as we 
passed along from room to room, “This is not quite a 
palace, but it is more than a bungalow.” It was an 
ancient structure, built somewhat in the old Roman 
style. Our host took us around and showed us the 
various rooms and halls and paintings and wall decora¬ 
tions, and explained the mythical figures to us. 

He also asked us whether we would be pleased to have 
some refreshments. We accepted the invitation with 
thanks. A circular table, some six feet in diameter, was 
produced, and we were invited to sit down around it. 
A large glass dish, holding several gallons, filled with 
oranges peeled and divided into sections, was placed 
in the center of the table. A cup of coffee and a dish 
of something resembling oatmeal or some breakfast food 
were set before each of us. In a large pan a servant 
brought a dairy preparation resembling thick clabber, 
which he dealt out to us with his hands on platters made 
of leaves pinned together. 

We were now ready to begin the feast, and we won¬ 
dered whether our host, who was a caste man, would 
eat with us. Now, fruit and any food into the prepara¬ 
tion of which water does not enter may be eaten by 
caste people in the presence of others. Our host, ac¬ 
cordingly, took a handful of oranges and laid before his 
companion and another handful before himself. We 
were expected to help ourselves in the same way. Our 
host next filled his mouth with the fruit, sucked the 


160 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


juice out, and threw the pulp on the floor behind him. 
We did not follow his example in this respect altogether. 

The fruit course being finished, we had to eat the rest 
of the meal ourselves. Our host, however, remained at 
the table and chatted freely with us all the time. The 
dish resembling oatmeal was as fiery as cayenne pepper 
could make it. The dairy dish was not so bad, but it 
had a strange, new taste to it. Our host asked us 
whether we didn’t think it was good. It is hard at times 
to be both polite and truthful. Soda water, put up in 
bottles, was served, but as there appeared to be but one 
glass we took turns to drink it. Then followed the betel 
leaves. We not only took them, which was all that po¬ 
liteness required us to do, but we also chewed them. 
This seemed to please our host very much, and in the 
course of our conversation he said, “I noticed that two 
of you came on wheels. You have far to go, and it is 
late. Will you not take my carriage?” This was a very 
kind offer, and we thanked him sincerely. 

While the servants were getting the carriage ready 
our host took us to see his orchard and flower garden. 
He only regretted he said that it was not the fruit 
season, but hoped that it would be the next time we came 
to see him. The carriage was now ready; so we thanked 
our host for his kindness and hospitality and prepared 
to leave. The horses were as fine a pair of blacks as you 
could ever wish to see, but they refused to stir from 
the spot. The driver brandished his whip, and the ser¬ 
vants came up from all diiections, took hold of the 
wheels, and pushed the carriage up against the horses, 
but it was all in vain. The situation was becoming em¬ 
barrassing to us all, and we were on the point of getting 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


161 



out when suddenly the horses started off as if shot from 
a cannon, and all we could do was to hold on to our 
seats and wave our salaams to our host. We soon reached 
the main road to Jaggampet. 

There are no better roads in the world than the high¬ 
ways of India. Our horses soon slackened their pace 


An Indian Highway. 

into a gentle trot. The sun was just ready to dip be¬ 
low the horizon, the air was still, the heat of the day 
was over, and we were enjoying a most delightful drive 
when suddenly crash went one of the hind wheels of 
our carriage. It broke all to pieces—spokes, fellies, and 
tire lay scattered for several yards along the road. 
Nothing remained of the wheel but the hub. What 
were we to do now? Our pony bandy and bicycles, en- 




162 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


trusted to some servants, were coming up behind. We 
would have to resort to them again. It was thought 
proper that we should report in person to the zemendar 
what had happened. Eev. Eckardt and I were deputed 
to return in our pony bandy and report. This we did. 
The zemendar was not a little surprised to see us come 
back, and was anxious to hear what had happened. When 
informed of our mishap he said, “I am very sorry, not 
because the carriage is broken, for I can have it re¬ 
paired, but because you had so much trouble. It was, 
however, a kind providence that you were not hurt.” 
The next day he sent all the way to Jaggampet to en¬ 
quire how we were. 

It was about eight o’clock in the evening when we 
reached the travelers’ bungalow in Jaggampet. There 
is no mission bungalow at this place though one is very 
much needed. The district missionary has to make use 
of a rest house or travelers’ bungalow as headquarters. 
Servants had been sent ahead, and when we arrived we 
found a fine dinner waiting for us. The table was dain¬ 
tily spread, each one’s place marked with his name on 
the white tablecloth, colored rice forming the letters. 

After dinner we prepared for our night’s travel. Dr. 
Isaacson, who had accompanied us all this time, now 
bade us good-bye, and returned on his wheel to Samul- 
kot the same evening reaching home after midnight. 
We had had a most enjoyable day, and we were sorry 
to have him return all alone in the night. Fortunately 
it was near the time of the full moon and almost as 
light as day. 

Four bullock bandies stood in readiness for us—one 
for Eev. Eckardt, one for Dr. Benze, one for me, and 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


163 



one for our servants with the provisions. The carts were 
furnished with a liberal supply of rice straw over which 
a sheet was spread, a pillow was added and a blanket or 
sheet. Each cart was covered with palm-leaf matting 
and supplied with a curtain in front and rear. Thus 
we were each furnished with a comfortable sleeping car. 
The pole of the cart is made of a crotch fastened to the 
axletree. On a seat formed in this crotch sits the dri¬ 
ver, near enough to the oxen to reach them with his 
hands. Travel by night is very pleasant in India, 
especially when there is moonlight. If you want to you 
can arrange to sleep as comfortably as in a Pullman 
sleeper. But the driver must keep awake. Should he go 
to sleep too, your oxen may stop, or they may turn and 
take you back to the place you set out from, or they may 


A Bullock Bandy. 




164 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


take fright and shy to the side and dump you in the 
ditch. Rev. Eckardt said he would go first and would 
keep an eye on our train so that all would be well. My 
bandy came next, Dr. Benze’s third, and our servants 
brought up the rear. 

It was about ten o’clock in the evening when we set 
out from Jaggampet. We met with no adventures on 
the way worth mentioning. The novelty of the situa¬ 
tion, however, kept us from sleeping much the first 
night. About ten o’clock the next morning we reached 
Adetigula, a village about 26 miles north of Jaggampet. 
Here we stopped at a travelers’ bungalow again and had 
our breakfast and a few hours’ rest. We were now in the 
hill and jungle country. We were not certain that we 
might not see or at least hear a tiger. Rev. Eckardt 
told us that he often heard them roar, and we were told 
that the day before a tiger had been shot in the vicinity. 
We, however, neither saw nor heard any, and I do not 
think that we were very anxious, any of us, to form their 
acquaintance. 

In the afternoon we walked to the village in the clear¬ 
ing. Here we have a prayer house, where we met a con¬ 
gregation of about 75 people. Services were conducted 
as usual, led by Rev. Eckardt. Six persons, five children 
and one adult, were baptized. On our way back to our 
bungalow we passed through a corner of the jungle. 
How wild and picturesque this country is! We saw 
hundreds and hundreds of monkeys, of all ages and sizes, 
chattering and swinging in the branches of the tall trees. 

We had our dinner at the bungalow, and then about 
6:30 in the evening we started to return to Jaggampet. 
We reached our destination about daybreak the next 


RAJAHMUNDRY. 


165 



morning. This was Saturday, January 30th. We had no 
more time to spend in this new and interesting district. 
After drinking a cup of coffee we started out again.This 
time for Rajahnagaram, about 14 miles southwest of 
Jaggampet on the road to Rajahmundry. This place we 


The Temple of Lakschmi and Narasimham. 




166 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


reached about ten o’clock in the morning. Here we met 
Eev. Karl L. Wolters, who took charge of us, for we 
were now to visit his field, the Korukonda district. We 
stopped and had chota. Then we bade farewell to Eev. 
Eckardt, and set out in a northwesterly direction for the 
city of Korukonda, distant about nine miles. 

Here we stopped at a house of the mission used by 
Eev. Wolters as an inn. The servants had breakfast 
ready for us when we arrived. After breakfast we start¬ 
ed out afoot to a meeting at the village of Sriringapat- 
nam. On our way we stopped to visit the temple of Lak- 
schmi and Karasimham, located on a steep hill rising 
from the plain in a pyramidal form to a height of 400 
feet. The top can be reached only by climbing the steps 
cut in the native rock. The ascent is quite fatiguing, 
owing to the hot climate of India. 

Our meeting at Sriringapatnam was protracted until 
sunset. There was a sermon by Eev. Wolters, speeches 
by the commissioners interpreted by the native pastor 
Eev. Williams, two baptisms, and a marriage. We re¬ 
turned to our inn by moonlight. After dinner we start¬ 
ed for Eajahmundry. It was a delightful drive. The 
night was, perhaps, as near the ideal as any night can 
ever be, but we were almost too tired to enjoy it. We 
reached our home bungalow a little after midnight. 

The next day was Sunday. Early in the morning, 
about eight o’clock, we attended Telugu services in St. 
Paul’s church in Eajahmundry. The sermon was 
preached by one of our missionaries. This is a well- 
organized, self-supporting and self-governing, native 
congregation of a little over 350 members. Since we 
left India the congregation has received its own pastor. 



St. Paul's Church , Rajahmundry. 























168 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



On January 15, 1911, Pantagani Paradesi, who had 
served as teacher in both our Boys’ and Girls’ Central 
Schools, was ordained to the holy ministry in the new 
Augustana church in Samulkot. He is the sixth native 
Christian on our Telugu field to receive ordination. It 
is to be hoped that our work may prosper so that the 
number of such self-supporting and self-governing con¬ 
gregations with native pastors may steadily increase. 

In the afternoon we attended a Sunday-school con¬ 
ducted in the Medical Home by our medical mission¬ 
aries among the Eurasians, who are quite numerous in 
that part of the city. The Eurasians are in many re- 


Our Printing Office and Book Store. 





Rev. Pantagani Paraclesi. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 12. 











170 GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 

spects an unfortunate people. They are a mixed race 
of Europeans and Hindus. S'ocially they are not rec¬ 
ognized by either natives or Europeans. Some of them 
are quite light and can scarcely be distinguished from 
Europeans, others are dark. They are an unassuming, 
submissive, law-abiding people. They are thoroughly 
reliable and trustworthy and many of them hold posi¬ 
tions of trust and responsibility in many employments. 
This Sunday-school work by our medical missionaries 
deserves our highest commendation. 

English services were conducted in St. Paul’s church 
in the evening before the dinner hour. The regular 
common service was used. The sermon was preached by 
Dr. Benze. These English services are intended for our 
missionaries in and around Bajahmundry. They are 



The Bethlehem Hindu Girls' School. 




RAJAHMUNDRY. 


171 



also attended by the English speaking part of the com¬ 
munity and by natives who understand English. 

The following week we spent in Rajahmundry, visit¬ 
ing once more our Boys’ and Girls’ Central Schools 
and our six Hindu Girls’ Schools, attending a second 
meeting of the Mission Council, examining the plans 
for our new hospital, which has since been built, and 
inspecting our printing establishment and book store, 
located in the same compound as the Riverdale bunga¬ 
low, the Zenana Home, and the Bethlehem School. 

We also made a trip to Tadepallegudem to visit Rev. 
and Mrs. Neudoerffer in their home, and made a last 
visit to our missionaries in Rajahmundry, Dowlaish- 
waram, and Luthergiri. We spent a pleasant afternoon 
with Rev. and Mrs. Eckardt, taking coffee in the large 


The Church Bungalow in Rajahmundry. 




172 


(iMMi'HKS or Tirmoio continicnth. 


new tent which had just arrived. As there is no mis¬ 
sion bungalow on Rev. Eckardt’s field, this tent or 
movable bungalow was to serve as a substitute for a 
home. Eev. and Mrs. Eckardt lived, at the time of our 
visit, in the church bungalow near St. Paul/s church 
in Rajahmundry. 

We also had the good fortune of witnessing a Car 
Festival before we left India. Nearly every town and 
city in India is provided with an immense car, in which 
the gods are supposed to delight to ride on festive occa¬ 
sions. These cars are of all sizes and designs. The 
wheels are usually of large size. They support an im¬ 
mense platform on which is built a pagoda-shaped 
structure of several stories in which the gods are seated. 
The whole is most elaborately ornamented with carvings 
and decorations. The car is pulled by means of long, 
stout ropes in the hands of hundreds of men, women, 
and children, who are taught to look upon this tugging 
as a great privilege and a very meritorious work. Im¬ 
mense multitudes of people gather to witness the great 
procession. At times the devotees work themselves up 
into a frenzy, and formerly it often happened that per¬ 
sons either by accident or design threw themselves be¬ 
fore the car and were crushed to death beneath the 
huge wheels. Such acts of self-immolation arc of course 
not allowed by the Tlritish government to-day. 

The festival in question was held in Dowlaishwaram, 
a town about four miles south of Rajahmundry. The 
beautiful thoroughfare between the two places was 
thronged with multitudes of men, women, and children, 
of all ages and sizes, in various costumes and colors, all 
bound for the car festival. 


KAJAHMIJNDRY. 



173 

Through 11 ic kindness of Rev. Arps, who is well known 
in Dowlaishwaram, we secured a most excellent place 
for viewing the scene from the flat roof of a house front¬ 
ing the street. What a restless sea of human life was 
spread out before us as we looked up and down the 


A Car Festival. 




174 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


crowded thoroughfare! A short distance from us stood 
the high and towering car most gorgeously decorated. 
Before it moved the images of Kama and Hanuman, 
the monkey god, manipulated by natives concealed un¬ 
der the robes of the gods. The images w r ere made to 
bow their salaams to the people, right and left, while 
the great mass of the people seemed to regard it all 
rather as a circus than a religious festival. 

Presently the car began to advance, pulled by hun¬ 
dreds of hands, tugging at the ropes. But suddenly it 
stopped. The huge wheels on the one side had run 
into the gutter. Men at once set to work to get it up 
on the pavement so that the procession might continue. 
Hour after hour passed by, but the car still stood like 
a leaning Tower of Pisa, defying all efforts to straighten 
it. 

As w r e had been invited to attend a reception given 
by the Boys’ Central School we had to leave the inter¬ 
esting scene and force our way out through the crowded 
streets. It was not before the next day that the car 
was brought up from the gutter, and the procession was 
continued. 

On Saturday morning we had the pleasure of calling 
on the great social reformer K. Yeerasalingam Pan- 
tulu of Rajahmundry. This remarkable man was then 
about seventy years of age. We have learned with sor¬ 
row that he has since passed away. He was no doubt 
one of the great men in this part of India. He is said 
to have been the author of a hundred books. In 
walk and conversation he was simple and unassuming. 
In religion we would, perhaps, call him a Unitarian. 
He accepted the ethics of Christianity and labored to 



K. Veerasalingcim Pantulu. 




176 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


bring about many of the reforms introduced by Chris¬ 
tian missionaries. lie opposed child marriage and urged 
the remarriage of widows. There are many men in 
India to-day who, like him, accept the ethics but not the 
doctrines of our faith. 

In the afternoon of the same day we were invited to 
a reception in the Girls 5 Central School given by our 
missionaries to the leading citizens of Rajahmundry 
—government officials, pleaders, editors, scientists, teach¬ 
ers, and reformers. There was a large number present 
and among them were many Brahmans and other high 
caste men. Refreshments were served and many of the 
guests laid aside their caste rules and accepted the re¬ 
freshments served by the ladies of our mission. Some, 
however, adhered to their caste rules and politely de¬ 
clined. 

After the refreshments we all gathered in the open 
court of the school, where seats for about 120 persons 
had been provided. The Rev. C. F. Kuder presided, and 
an interesting program was rendered. Five of the rep¬ 
resentative men spoke on behalf of the citizens of the 
place. All lauded the work of our missionaries and 
especially the medical and educational work. One of 
the speakers declared that their old religion had failed 
to raise India out of ignorance and superstition, that it 
had led to the oppression of the masses, that the Chris¬ 
tian missionaries had done much to emancipate the low¬ 
er classes and had set an example to the caste people, 
who ought now to take up this work of reform. 

The education of women was also endorsed, and one 
of the speakers expressed the hope that “when the com¬ 
missioners come here next time we may have advanced 


liA JAHMUNDliY. 


177 


so far along- this line flint we may be able to bring our 
ladies to the reception too.” 

Here we had an other opportunity of presenting the 
cause of Christian missions to an audience of learned 
and refined natives. From my own experience I must 
say that I never spoke to a more attentive, respectful, 
and appreciative audience than on this occasion. 

In the evening we had dinner with our medical mis¬ 
sionaries at the Medical Home. It was a happy and in¬ 
teresting occasion. All our missionaries were present, 
except Rev. Larson and Dr. Isaacson and their families. 

The next day was our last Sunday in Rajahmundry. 
We attended Telugu services in St. Paul’s church in the 
morning. One of our native pastors, Rev. J. William, 
conducted the service and preached the sermon. He 
wore the native costume and over it the white robe com¬ 
monly used in the pulpits in India. Rev. William is a 
tall, stately, and distinguished looking man, and certain¬ 
ty few men could conduct a service with greater dignity 
and impressiveness than he did on this occasion. 

After service we visited Miss Weiskotten’s Bethlehem 
Sunday-school. This is one of several Sunday-schools 
which Miss Weiskotten with the help of native workers 
is conducting in various parts of Rajahmundry. 

We spent the afternoon at home and received calls 
from a number of friends, who came to bid us farewell. 
Among the callers were Samanchi Nagaswara Row, the 
munsif, or judge, of Rajahmundry; Rev. McCready, 
formerly one of our missionaries; Rev. J. William and 
family; Rev. R. Arps of Dowlaishwaram; and Gabriel 
Moses, one ’ of our native workers. In the evening we 
attended English services in St. Paul’s church. The 


178 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


sermon was again preached by *Dr. Benze. A large 
number of the native Christians were present. Tt was 
the last service we attended in India. 

Monday, February 8th, was a busy day for us. We 
received a number of callers and had all our packing 
to do. All the curiosities we had collected along our 
trip through South India and the many gifts we had 
received from missionaries and other friends had to be 
packed away in our trunks or into boxes and shipped 
home. 

At nine o’clock in the evening all was ready. We 
bade farewell to our bungalow and made our way to the 
Godavari station. There was a large gathering to bid 
us good-by — nearly all our missionaries, a number of 
native workers and students and other native Christians, 
and our servants. It was an occasion we cannot easily 
forget. Our missionaries had treated us with so much 
kindness and hospitality that it semed almost like leav¬ 
ing home to bid them all good-by. The native workers, 
too, and other Christians whom we had learned to know 
seemed like home folks to us now. And to our servants, 
to whom we had become devotedly attached, we found it 
hard to bid farewell, and it was through tears those 
faithful souls saw us depart. Our train left at 9 :20 p. 
m. We were en'route for Bombay. 



CHAPTER IX. 


Bombay. 

Our route took us south about a hundred miles to Bez- 
wada and then west and northwest across the southern 
plateau of India to the western coast. It is a distance 
of nearly a thousand miles and with the stops we had to 
make at two places it took us 58 hours to make the trip. 
Parts of the country were fertile and beautiful to look 
upon while others were barren and desert-like. For a 
day and a night we traveled through Hyderabad, one of 
the largest of the native states. Nearly three-sevenths 
of India are still ruled by native princes. There are 
about 650 such native rulers. Some of them have neces¬ 
sarily very small domains, while others rule over con¬ 
siderable kingdoms. The native princes are, however, 
not allowed to engage in war or enter into foreign rela¬ 
tions. Foreign ambassadors are not allowed to reside at 
their courts without special permission, and their mili¬ 
tary forces are limited. An English resident minister 
or agent exercises the real control. The laws of British 
India, however, do not apply to the native states. 

Hyderabad is nearly as large as the kingdom of Italy 
exclusive of Sicily and Sardinia. The city of Hydera¬ 
bad, through which our route took us, is the capital of 


180 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



Street Scene in Hyderabad. 

the state and is the fourth city in size in India, having 
a population of nearly half a million. 

We left Rajahmundry Monday evening and arrived 
in Bombay early the following Thursda}^ morning. This 
beautiful city has justly been called the "Eye of India,” 
and the "Gateway of India.” Is is built on a cluster of 
islands connected with each other and with the main¬ 
land by means of bridges and causeways, and contains 
one of the finest harbors in the world. It has a popu¬ 
lation of nearly a million and is the second city in size 
in India. It is a truly cosmopolitan place. Nearly all 




BOMBAY. 


181 


the races in the world may be seen here. Here the East 
and the West meet as nowhere else in the far East. Its 
clean, broad, beautiful streets, massive buildings, ex¬ 
cellent street car service, and busy traffic might well 
lead you to imagine yourself in some large European 
city. But over yonder in the native quarters all is differ¬ 
ent. There are the narrow, winding streets with their 
reeking bazars, heathen temples, curiously painted 
houses, and teeming, polyglot, Oriental population. 

The Victoria Terminus, recently finished at a cost of 
fifteen million dollars, is no doubt the finest railway 
station in the world. Its beautiful architecture, its 
massiveness, its magnificent proportions, its splendidly 
equipped offices, its luxurious waiting rooms with open 



A Railway Station in Bombay. 












■Jk? 



The Post Office in Bombay 









BOMBAY. 


183 


courts and gardens and shady walks, must be seen to be 
fully appreciated. The magnificent public buildings, 
among which are the Townhall, the Postoffice, the Mint, 
the Cathedral, and the Elphinstone College, and the 
beautiful gardens and drives rival those of Paris and 
Berlin. Its excellent water supply is taken from lake 
Tansa, a distance of 65 miles. While its chief wealth 
consists in its extensive commerce, it is also a great 
manufacturing city, containing no less than 100 cotton 
mills. 

We spent five days in this beautiful place. Here we 
wrote our official report to the Foreign Mission Board, 
instructions having been given us to write our report 



The Esplanade Road in Bombay. 




184 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


before leaving India, but not on our field. With this 
final duty accomplished, we felt that a weight of re¬ 
sponsibility was lifted, and we breathed more freely. 
The time remaining was now at our own disposal. 

A drive to Malabar Hill is one of the most delightful 
treats in Bombay. This celebrated hill commands a 
magnificent view of the city and its surroundings. The 
hill itself is a garden of tropical plants, flowers, and 
foliage, of the most luxuriant growth. In the midst of 
it lie the Parsees’ Towers of Silence, of which I shall 
speak a little further on. 

Our next drive was through the crowded native quar¬ 
ters, but as the bubonic plague, which raged with such 
deadly effects a few years before, still lingered in these 
parts, our investigations in this field were of a very 
superficial nature. The Victoria Gardens with their 
extensive drives and winding walks, the zoological gar¬ 
den, and the museum also claimed our attention. 

The most enterprising people of Bombay are the Par- 
sees. They number only about 90,000, or one-tenth of 
the population, but their influence is supreme. They 
are easily distinguished from the Hindus, and were it 
not for their peculiar dress, they could readily be taken 
for Europeans. They do not belong to the Hindu stock, 
but to the Persian. When in the seventh century the 
Mohammedan conquerors overturned the altars of the 
Fire Worshipers of Persia, most of the followers of 
Zoroaster accepted the faith of Islam, but others refused 
to yield and suffered persecutions. Bather than give 
up their faith they went into exile. Some finally made 
their way to India, where they have maintained them¬ 
selves to the present day. 


BOMBAY. 


185 



As they have never intermarried with the natives, 
they have maintained the purity of their race. They 
engage principally in commercial and manufacturing 
enterprises, and in these they are eminently successful. 


Queen Victoria's Statue, Bombay. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 13. 


















186 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


They know how to make money and are very liberal in 
spending it. The architectural beauty of Bombay is 
due largely to their munificence. Many public insti¬ 
tutions, — schools, colleges, and hospitals — have been 
built and endowed by them. While the magnificent 
Elphinstone High School commemorates the liberality 
of one, the beautiful statue of Queen Victoria attests 
the public spirit of another. They are stanch supporters 
of the British rule in India. 

The religion of the Parsees is in the main the ancient 
religion of Zoroaster — the simplest and purest of all 
heathen religions. They believe in one god, a beneficent 
creator, who rules in the kingdom of light. Him they 
worship through the sun or fire as his emblems. They 
also believe in an evil power, the prince of darkness. 
Between these two powers there is a constant warfare 
both within the human heart and in nature without. 
They believe, however, in the ultimate triumph of the 
kingdom of light. 

To this simple faith of Zoroaster various superstitious 
beliefs and practices have been added. The Parsees in 
common with the ancient Persians believe in the sacred¬ 
ness of the four so-called elements — fire, earth, air, and 
water. They also believe that a dead body is impure 
and that its touch contaminates. Hence, a practical 
difficulty arose as to how to dispose of the dead. Burn¬ 
ing and burying were both objectionable, as by either 
method one or the other of the sacred elements would 
be defiled. The solution of the problem was to expose the 
dead bodies to be devoured by beasts and birds of prey. 

For this purpose the Parsees have built within an 
enclosure on Malabar Hill five stone structures known 


BOMBAY. 


187 



as Toivers of Silence. Under each tower is a well or 
cistern connected with a sewer, and over the top of the 
tower is an iron grate. The enclosing wall is about 
fourteen feet high. The body of the dead is placed 
upon a bier and over it is spread a pure, white covering. 
After the priests have recited the funeral service and 
the mourners have withdrawn, professional bearers, clad 
in new white robes, provided fresh for each occasion, 
take up the body and place it upon the grate. The at¬ 
tendant priest, with averted face, removes the white 
covering and all withdraw from the scene. The hungry 
vultures, the holy birds of the Parsees, now leave their 
usual perch on the parapets of the walls, circle around 


The Towers of Silence on Malabar Hill. 









Sailors' Home in Bombay. 
















BOMBAY. 


189 


the tower, and pounce upon the victim. In a few min¬ 
utes nothing remains of the body but the bones. These 
are dropped into the cistern below, where a process of 
purification takes place before they are carried away 
through the sewer. 

Another interesting people of Bombay are the Jains. 
They are a religious sect dating from the fifth or sixth 
century before Christ. They were closely related to the 
Buddhists, but were less radical, and while Buddhism 
has almost entirely disappeared from India proper, 
Jainism maintains itself, and in proportion to numbers 
forms an influential element of the population, especially 
in the western part of India. One of their special 
peculiarities is their care and tenderness for all forms 
of life. They will not destroy even the most disgusting 
and noxious vermin. They have established in Bombay 
one of the most remarkable institutions in the world — 
a hospital for animals. Here may be seen sick, maimed, 
old, and decrepit dogs, cats, cows, horses, sheep, goats, 
and even reptiles and insects. While their kindness to 
dumb animals is a rebuke to the cruelty often exercised 
on them in Christian lands, it must be admitted that 
in these efforts they often go to absurd and even dis¬ 
gusting lengths. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Holy Land. 

It was Monday afternoon, February 15th, that we 
boarded the Rubattino , of the Italian Line of Steamers, 
for a passage to Port Said. There is always more or 
less worry and excitement connected with embarking 
and disembarking, especially in foreign ports, and we 
all felt a great relief when we had reached the Victoria 
dock, passed the medical examination, and finally found 
ourselves with all our baggage safely on board our steam¬ 
er, realizing that for nearly two weeks we would have 
nothing to do but rest. 

Dr. Benze was not with us. He had booked passage 
for Venice on another steamer, the Praga of the Austrian 
Lloyd Line. His steamer was, however, at the same 
dock and only a few hundred feet from ours, and 
steamed out of the harbor only an hour ahead of us. 
We were headed for the west. Every hour would bring 
us nearer home. There was something very comforting 
in the thought. But on the other hand it was not with¬ 
out regret that we saw the shores of India recede from 
our view. Our visit had been one of the most agreeable 
kind. We had been treated with the utmost kindness 
everywhere, and every day had brought new scenes and 


THE HOLY LAND. 


191 



new experiences to ns. In spite of its poverty, ignorance, 
and superstition, there is a witchery about the Orient 
that charms and captivates, and there are few persons 
who have spent any considerable time in India who are 
satisfied to live anywhere else. 

Our passage across the Arabian Sea was most de¬ 
lightful. The weather was fine, the sea calm, and the 
sailing smooth and easy. Among our fellow passengers 


A View of Aden. 







192 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


were a few missionaries going home on furlough and 
some English military officers, some of them with their 
wives. They too were on furlough. The hot season 
was coming on in India, which is always marked by an 
outpouring of passengers to Europe and America. The 
passage required nearly six days. It was Sunday fore¬ 
noon that we anchored in the harbor of Aden. As we 
had come from a plague-infected port we were not al¬ 
lowed to land or go ashore. Natives in small boats ap¬ 
peared in large numbers around our boat with all manner 
of Oriental products and trinkets, which they offered for 
sale. From our deck we had an excellent view of the 
harbor and the city with the desert and the lofty moun¬ 
tains as a background. Aden is said to be the hottest 
port in the world, but as this was the coolest season of 
the year we did not suffer any inconvenience from the 
heat. 

As our steamer was about to sail out, and we had 
gone up to the top deck to get a better view of the place 
as we sailed out, some one called us, saying that a certain 
American in a small boat was inquiring about us. We 
wondered who could be enquiring about us at this 
lonely place on the edge of the desert, and hurried down 
to see. It was Dr. Benze. His steamer had just arrived 
and had anchored in a distant part of the harbor. Hear¬ 
ing that our vessel was still there, he had come over to 
see us. We were very sorry that our steamer was about 
to sail out and that we could exchange only a few words 
with him, but we hoped to see him again at Port Said. 

By the next morning we had passed through the 
strait of Bab-el-Mandeb and were once more in the Bed 
Sea. There was a brisk northeasterly wind blowing, 


THE HOLY LAND. 


193 


greatly modifying the temperature. On Friday morn¬ 
ing we anchored in the harbor of Suez and in a short 
time began the passage of the canal. Some distance 
above Suez the canal widens out into a beautiful ex¬ 
panse of water known as the Bitter Lakes. Here it is 
customary for steamers to have a race if two or more 
happen to be close together, each one trying to be the 
first to reenter the canal at the upper end of the lake. 
We had the chance of witnessing such a race. A vessel 
behind us came steaming up, and turning to the side, 
prepared to pass us. Our boat was, however, prepared 
for it, and though it was old and the pursuing vessel 
new, it held its own, and after a race of half an hour 
or more when the shores of the lake began to converge 
into the canal proper, we steamed in ahead, and the 
other vessel dropped behind. The pursuing vessel was 
the Praga, on board of which was Dr. Benze. 

The next morning, February 27th, we anchored in 
the busy harbor of Port Said. Here we bade farewell 
to our fellow passengers, most of whom continued the 
voyage to Naples or Genoa. We had again the experi¬ 
ence of landing by means of small boats, transferring 
our baggage, passing customs, and finding a hotel. After 
these various matters had been attended to, we returned 
to the levee to see if we could find the Praga and meet 
Dr. Benze, but we found to our disappointment that the 
Praga had made but a short call and had already sailed 
out of the harbor. We would not meet Dr. Benze again 
until we should meet him somewhere in America. 

Port Said is the gateway to the East, and as such it 
offers many strange sights to the tourist from the West. 
As we had by this time seen a great deal of the East 


194 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


we were not so much impressed by the strange peoples 
and customs as we had been when we first visited this 
place some months before on our outgoing voyage. No 
other place of equal size sees so many vessels come and 
go each year as this. When one remembers this fact 
and reflects upon the class of people that would naturally 
flow to such a place, one is not surprised to learn of its 
unenviable reputation from a moral point of view. We 
spent two days at this place and arranged for a short 
trip to the Holy Land. For once, we decided to avail 
ourselves of the services of a tourist company, and ar¬ 
ranged with Thomas Cook & Son to conduct us on this 
tour. And often on this trip did we feel justified in 
the course we had taken, for if the services of tourist 
companies and guides are needed anywhere it is in the 
Holy Land. We mapped out our tour and paid for it 
all — transportation, hotels, and admissions — in a lump 
sum and had no further concern about it. 

At six o’clock on Sunday evening, February 28th, our 
steamer, the Saidieh, of the Khedivial Line, sailed out 
of the harbor and at daybreak the next morning we saw 
the dim outlines of land toward the east. It was the 
Holy Land. What strange feelings stirred within us 
as our eyes rested for the first time upon the land which 
had been associated with our most sacred memories from 
our earliest years! But our first concern was to land. 
This is always a matter of anxiety to visitors to the 
Holy Land, for though Jaffa, or Joppa, the port city, 
which rises on the hill before us, is one of the oldest 
seaports in the world, it has never had a protected har¬ 
bor. The vessels anchor in the open sea, far from land, 
and when the sea is rough the landing by means of small, 


THE HOLY LAND. 


195 



open boats is both difficult and dangerous and at times 
impossible. Large black rocks lie scattered throughout 
the harbor, some of them barely rising to the surface. 
Against these the waves clash, breaking into millions of 
fragments and throwing the white foam high into the 
air. This heightens the beauty and grandeur of the 
scene, but makes the landing all the more difficult. 

We were all ordered below deck to pass medical in¬ 
spection. This ordeal over, the captain informed us 
with a broad smile that he would now turn us over to the 
wild beasts. What this meant we were soon to experi¬ 
ence. A mob of swarthy porters and guides from the 
numerous small boats around rushed up the side stairs 
of the boat and pounced upon the helpless passengers, 


Jaffa. 







196 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


seizing their baggage and gesticulating and yelling as 
if life depended on their being heard. We quickly found 
the Cook porters and placed ourselves under their pro¬ 
tection and guidance. With firm and experienced hands 
they conducted us down the slippery stairs along the 
side of the rocking steamer and then literally pitched 
us from one boat to another until we finally landed in 
our particular boat, making us feel — as Mrs. Foss ex¬ 
pressed it — like a piece of baggage. Our boatmen then 
bent to the oars with even and measured strokes, singing 
as they did so, while our boat leaped forward, rising and 
falling upon the rolling waves. Only once or twice did 
the foam dash over us, for the sea was not very rough, 
but it was with a feeling of relief that we stepped upon 
the little wooden pier at the landing. 

Porters seized our baggage, and we followed our guide 
through crowds of swarthy people in strange costumes, 
who thronged us on all sides. A word from the Cook 
agent was sufficient and we passed customs without hav¬ 
ing to open our baggage. Then our guide led us on up 
through narrow winding lanes covered with filth and 
crowded with people and beasts of burden — donkeys 
and camels. Carriages are not seen in these lanes, which 
are too narrow and crooked for vehicles. Burdens are 
carried, some on the backs of animals, others on the 
backs of men. The weight of the burdens strapped to 
the stooping shoulders and back of these men is often 
truly remarkable. Long trains of camels with immense 
loads met us here and there. These loads were balanced 
on each side of the camel and were often of great bulk, 
measuring from ten to twelve feet from side to side. 
The camel with the load would often take up the whole 


THE HOLY LAND. 


197 


lane, and we had to step aside into some niche or door¬ 
way, for the camel with his superior strength of course 
had the right of way. But no sooner had he passed 
than another followed, and another, and another, each 
one tied to the one immediately ahead. Such trains of 
a dozen or more camels may frequently be seen. The 
driver rides the first camel, and the others follow. Dur¬ 
ing loading and unloading the camel is made to kneel. 

After passing through narrow lanes and covered ba¬ 
zars, reeking with Oriental odors, we finally emerged 
into one of the few wide streets of the city. Here a 
carriage stood waiting for us, and we quickly entered it. 
With a speed that would not be allowed in our cities we 
were driven along the street for a considerable distance 
to the Jerusalem hotel near the outskirts of the town. 

This comfortable and well-furnished hotel was kept 
by E. Hardegg, who served also as American vice-consul. 
Upon entering we were at once reminded that we were 
in the Holy Land. The rooms were named for the 
Twelve Tribes of Israel, and at the upper end of the 
large dining room was a fine painting of modern Jeru¬ 
salem. The walls here and there were decorated with 
suggestive Bible verses, the most striking being: “Our 
feet shall stand within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem.” I can 
only suggest the impression that the whole made on us. 

After breakfast we were furnished with a carriage 
and a guide and were taken to see the interesting places 
in the city. We were reminded that it was from this 
place that Jonah sailed when he fled from the presence 
of the Lord; that to this place King Hiram of Tyre 
shipped the cedars for Solomon’s Temple; that here 
Dorcas lived and labored, and died, and was raised to 



The Traditional House of Simon the Tanner. 




















THE HOLY LAND. 


199 


life by Peter; that here Peter saw the wonderful vision 
and learned the lesson that God is no respecter of per¬ 
sons and that the gospel was to be preached to Gentiles 
as well as to Jews. 

The first place we visited was the traditional house 
of Simon the Tanner. To reach it we had to walk a 
part of the way along narrow lanes and dirty alleys, 
and were beset on all sides by impudent Arab children 
clamorously calling for “bakshish.” There is no reason 
for believing that the old concrete house we were taken 
to dates back to the time of Simon the Tanner, but there 
seems to be good reason for believing that the location 
is the same as that of Simon’s house. It is near the sea, 
and from the flat roof of the house there is a fine view 
of the harbor with its black rocks and of the great sea 
toward the west. The scene has not changed since the 
days of Peter and Simon the Tanner. 

We were also taken to the traditional site of the House 
of Dorcas. Over it has recently been erected a Eussian 
church, and in a garden near by is a little chapel said 
to be built over her tomb. There is, however, no ground 
for the tradition. All that we know is that this devoted 
woman lived here somewhere and labored among the 
poor, and that the main features of the land are the 
same to-day as they were then. 

From the roof of the Eussian church we had a mag¬ 
nificent view of the city, the sea, and the surrounding 
country. Jaffa is a place of about 40,000 inhabitants, 
one-fourth of whom are Christians, one-tenth Jews, and 
the rest Mohammedans. It lies on a hill and seen from 
the sea it well deserves its name, which is said to mean 
“the beautiful.” It is surrounded by orange groves, per- 


200 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


haps the finest in the world. The fruit is of the most 
exquisite flavor and of unusual size, some of the oranges 
measuring five inches in diameter. At times four or five 
oranges are sold in the streets for one cent. Millions 
are shipped to Europe every year. 



The Tomb of Dorcas. 









THE HOLY LAND. 


201 


But while we are on the roof of the church we must 
take a wider view than merely that of this wreath of 
green and yellow surrounding the town. To the south 
is a sandy desert. The line between it and the cultivated 
fields is distinctly marked. To the north and northeast 
lies the beautiful plain of Sharon, and beyond it near 
the northern horizon rises Mt. Carmel, to the northeast 
the mountains of Ephraim or Samaria, and to the east 
and southeast the mountains of Judea. 

While at our dinner the Cook agent introduced to us 
our guide, or dragoman, Ibrahim Accad-Said, who, the 
agent assured us, was their oldest and most experienced 
guide. Ibrahim afterwards told us that he had had the 
honor of conducting the German Emperor through Jeru¬ 
salem ten years before and showed us a medal which he 
had received from him. Whatever may be thought of 
these claims, it is certain that Ibrahim was a well in¬ 
formed and reliable guide. 

At about one o’clock in the afternoon our train left 
for Jerusalem. The cars were unusually small. One 
train leaves for Jerusalem and one arrives from there 
each day. The distance to Jerusalem is 54 miles, and 
the time required is about four hours. But it must be 
remembered that a large part of the way the grade is 
very steep, for in going from Jaffa to Jerusalem we 
climb 2,600 feet. 

Our road took us through the southern part of the 
plain of Sharon. It was early spring and the people 
were out cultivating and planting. The crudest kinds 
of implements were used, some of them antedating the 
time of Abraham. The plow was only a crooked stick 
which scratched the soil. To it was hitched a camel, or, 


Glimpses of three Continents, lb. 



Plowing in the Orient. 




THE HOLY LAND. 


203 


perhaps, a camel and an ox, or a camel and a donkey. 
The little farms, of various shapes and sizes, were sep¬ 
arated by hedges or stone fences, which made the whole 
plain look like an immense crazy quilt. Innumerable 
wild flowers were seen along the edges of fields and along 
paths and roadwa} r s wherever flowers could grow. We 
were forcibly reminded of our Saviour's allusion to the 
Jilies of the field and of Solomon’s song of the Eose of 
Sharon. 

Our train stopped several minutes at every little sta¬ 
tion, and our guide, who seemed to know every hill and 
valley, every village and old ruin, pointed out to us the 
interesting places along the line. It would, however, be 
tedious to name them all. Our first stopping place was 
Lydda, twelve miles southeast of Jaffa. Here Peter 
healed Aeneas, and hence he was summoned to Jaffa to 
raise Dorcas from the dead. From this place we bear 
to the south and pass by the site of ancient Ekron, cele¬ 
brated in the history of the Ark of God. Leaving the 
plain, we turn eastward and begin a steep ascent through 
deep and narrow ravines with steep limestone cliffs and 
hills on either side. Some of these hills are cultivated 
in terraces, planted with grain, vines, olives, or fig trees. 
Where they are too steep for cultivation they are used 
for pasture, and flocks of sheep and goats with little 
shepherd boys and girls could be seen here and there 
along the steep and rocky hillsides. 

At about five o’clock the conductor called out, “Jeru¬ 
salem!” How strange and almost profane it sounded 
to our ears! When we got off, however, we could see 
no city at all. Our guide gathered up our baggage and 
we had nothing to do but follow him. A few steps 



Lydda 



































THE HOLY LAND. 


205 



brought us to a highway, where stood a long row of 
carriages. Our guide selected one of them, which we 
quickly entered. In a few minutes we reached the brow 
of a hill and the Holy City lay spread out before us like 
a beautiful dream realized. 

The railway station lies some distance southwest of 
Jerusalem, and, hence, it was from this direction that 


Railway Station in Jerusalem. 














206 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


we had our first view of the place. Immediately before 
us lay the deep valley of Hinnom, which skirts the 
western side of the city. Down into this valley we drove 
and then up on the other side to the Jaffa Gate, through 
which we entered. Almost immediately inside the gate 
we stopped. To our right was the so-called Tower of 
David and to our left the Grand New Hotel, which was 
to be our home during our stay in Jerusalem. 

The first words which greeted our ears as we stepped 
out of our carriage were, “Welcome to Jerusalem.” They 
were spoken in a pleasant voice and with a perfect Eng¬ 
lish accent. The person who thus addressed us was Mr. 
Vester, one of the chief men of the American Colony, 
of which I shall speak in another place. Mr. Vester and 
Mr. Whiting were conducting a store for the colony on 
the ground floor of the large building of which our hotel 
formed a part. Here could be bought almost anything 
from an American pumpkin pie to the rarest Palestine 
souvenir. 

The first experience of every visitor to the Holy City 
must be feelings of keen disappointment. The narrow 
and crooked lanes or alleys, serving as streets and filled 
with dirt and reeking with odors, which at times com¬ 
pel you to hold your nose; the dilapidated houses, built 
without fronts to the very edge of the street; the poor 
and ignorant masses, calling for bakshish wherever you 
go; the pious frauds that would point out to you the 
exact spot where occurred nearly every event recorded in 
Holy Writ; the pampered monks, extorting from the 
poor and credulous pilgrims their hard-earned little 
savings for the privilege of seeing some holy place, kiss¬ 
ing some sacred relic, or burning tapers before some re- 





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The Drive to the Jaffa Gate. 








208 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


puted shrine—these and other disappointing scenes at 
once demolish the beautiful pictures of the Holy City 
which your devout imagination painted for you from 
your earliest years. Such at least was our experience 
during our first days in Jerusalem. 

At eight o’clock in the morning of the first day after 
our arrival, our guide called us for an early round of 
sight-seeing. The common way of seeing Jerusalem 
within the gates is on foot, as most of the places of inter¬ 
est cannot be reached very well in any other way. The 
first object of our inspection was the Tower of David as 
it stood immediately opposite our hotel. It forms a part 
of the citadel and is a very massive structure. The lower 
part of it in particular is of very ancient workmanship 
and no doubt antedates the time of Christ. 



The Tower of David. 




THE HOLY LAND. 


209 


From this point we walked down David street which 
runs eastward from the Jaffa Gate, dividing the city 
into a northern and a southern section. Reaching 
Christian street we turned northward for a short dis¬ 
tance to a narrow lane which led us to the court of the 
Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 

The first church on this spot was built in the time of 
Constantine the Great. By that time all knowledge of 
the holy places seems to have been lost. The early Chris¬ 
tians do not appear to have paid any attention to the 
sacred places. It was first in the fourth century that 
efforts were made to locate the site of Calvary and to 



The Citadel. 




210 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


build a church over it. The spot was miraculously 
pointed out to the pious emperor, and his mother Hel¬ 
ena superintended the diggings in quest of the Holy 
Cross. We are told that three crosses as well as Pilate’s 
superscription were found. The True Cross was as¬ 
certained by the miraculous cures it wrought. 

We know very well that little or no importance can 
be attached to these pious legends, and it is very doubt¬ 
ful, to say the least, that the church marks the site of 
Calvary and the Tomb. We know that our Saviour 
suffered without the gate, but the church lies within the 
walls and in the heart of the city. It is true the ancient 
walls may have run so as to place this spot outside, but 
this supposition is by no means an established fact. 

The probability is that the true Calvary lay a little 
further away. To the north and immediately outside 
the Damuscus Gate, where the roads part, there rises a 
lonely hill. Tradition has it that this hill was used as 
a place of execution. A remarkable thing about the hill 
is that when it is viewed from the city the grotto at its 
base, the cavities in its side, the bald rocky front, and 
smooth round top give to it the appearance of a human 
skull. From this circumstance some have supposed that 
the name Golgotha, “a place of a skull,” was applied to 
it. Be this as it may, it is certain that its location an¬ 
swers to the Biblical description of Calvary far better 
than the traditional site at the Church of the Holy 
Sepulcher. 

The court in front of the church is paved with stones, 
which are deeply worn by the feet of innumerable pil¬ 
grims and tourists. As we entered the church we noticed 
to our left a body of Turkish guards stationed there to 


THE HOLY LAND. 


211 



preserve peace and order. The holy places are not in 
the possession of any one branch of the Christian church, 
but are claimed by Romans, Greeks, Armenians, Copts 
and others. These rival claims have often led to dis¬ 
graceful and sometimes bloody scenes, which have ren- 


The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 







212 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


dered the presence of Turkish soldiers necessary. These 
sects have now divided the sacred places among them¬ 
selves, reserving a few, like the Holy Sepulcher, as com¬ 
mon to all. The sacred places are used as a source of 
income through the gifts of the pious and credulous pil¬ 
grims who throng Jerusalem every year. There are few 
places in the world where there have been more frauds 
perpetrated and more unseemly contests fought out than 
right here under these sacred vaults. 

Here our guide pointed out to us the site of Calvary, 
the exact place of each of the three crosses, the rent in 
the rocks caused by the earthquake, the place where 
Mary stood when John received his charge to take her 
unto his own home, the place of scourging, the place of 
agony where, the nails were driven into the Saviour’s 
hands and feet, the holes in the rock made by Mary’s 
tears, the stone of unction on which the Saviour’s body 
was anointed for burial, the center of the world, the 
place where Adam was created, or the place where the 
Creator took the earth out of which Adam was formed, 
the grave of Adam, the place where the angel sat when 
he announced to the astonished women that Christ was 
risen from the dead, the Holy Sepulcher—a marble 
structure under the lofty dome of the church—the place 
where the risen Lord met Mary Magdalene, the tomb 
of Joseph of Arimathea, and many other places. 

In the midst of all this superstition and fraud it was 
hard for us to experience any feelings of real reverence. 
It was rather with feelings of pity and sadness that we 
saw the poor, deluded pilgrims with tears and groans 
pressing their lips against the cold marble of some sacred 
spot or buying wax tapers to burn before some holy shrine. 


THE HOLY LAND. 


213 


As we were about to leave the church and had just 
reached the court, we were met by an immense proces¬ 
sion of worshipers, led by the patriarch and a number of 
other lesser dignitaries of the Greek church, all dressed 
in their official vestments, presenting to our simple 
tastes a most grotesque appearance. The crowd in¬ 
creased and we were pressed up against the wall and 
had to remain there until the procession passed into the 
church. It was an unusual occasion. For months past 
the patriarch and the monks had been engaged in a bit¬ 
ter conflict, which at times had resulted in bloodshed. 
On the previous evening a reconciliation had been effect¬ 
ed, and the patriarch, after these many months, was now 
to conduct services in the holy sanctuary once more. 

As soon as the crowd had passed into the church we 
withdrew and walked down Palm street toward the east 
a short distance to the German Protestant Church of the 
Redeemer. The German Jerusalem Society w T as organ¬ 
ized in 1852, and is carrying on an important mission 
work both among Jews and Mohammedans. It has a 
large and well-equipped hospital, a school for girls, and 
an orphan home and school for boys. The new and 
beautiful church was dedicated in 1898 by the German 
Emperor. From the lofty tower of this church we had 
a magnificent view of the city and the country around. 

The city within the walls lies in an irregular square— 
north, east, south, and west. A considerable part of 
modern Jerusalem lies without the walls especially to 
the north and northwest. The present walls do not date 
back to ancient times. They were built by Solyman the 
Magnificent about the time of the Reformation. They 
are about 38 feet high and contain 34 towers. Their 



The Church of the Redeemer. 







THE HOLY LAND. 


215 


entire length is about two and one-fourth miles, and the 
enclosed area measures 210 acres. There are eight gates, 
seven of which are open. On the west side is the Jaffa 
Gate, through which most visitors to Jerusalem enter. 
On the north side are three gates, the central one being 
known as the Damascus Gate. On the east side is St. 
Stephen’s Gate, near the traditional site of the stoning 
of St. Stephen. On the same side is also the Golden 
Gate, which is closed. On the south side are two gates, 
the best known being Zion Gate, near the traditional site 
of the Tomb of David. 

The present city is built on the ancient ruins, and to 
reach the old levels you have to remove the rubbish in 
some places to the depth of over a hundred feet. Yet 
even to-day the four hills on which the ancient city was 
built are distinctly marked. The one toward the south¬ 
west is known as Mount Zion. It is generelly believed 
that this was the location of King David’s palace. Be¬ 
tween it and Mount Moriah toward the east is a deep 
valley known as the Tyropoeon. At one time this valley 
was spanned by a magnificent, arched bridge, traces of 
which may be seen to this day. Mount Moriah was the 
site of Salomon’s Temple. It forms to-day a sacred 
Mohammedan enclosure and contains the celebrated 
Dome of the Bock, sometimes, erroneously, called the 
Mosque of Omar. In the northwest quarter of the city 
is Akra and in the northeast Bezetha. Between Bezetha 
and Mount Moriah was a deep depression, which proba¬ 
bly contained the Pool of Bethesda. 

The city is surrounded on three sides by deep valleys. 
To the west and south is the valley of Hinnom, to the 
east that of Jehoshaphat, in which during wet seasons 


216 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


flows the brook of Kidron. On the north side the city 
is exposed, and, hence, in ancient times special efforts 
were made to protect this approach to the city. 

Such was the view we had of the city and its im¬ 
mediate surroundings, lying as it were at our feet. But 
beyond this narrow circle was another of wonderful ex¬ 
tent and of a truly inspiring nature. As we looked about 
us we were reminded of the fact that those mountains, 
hills, and valleys, on which our eyes rested, had been 
the silent witnesses of the greatest events in the history 
of our race. Southwardly extends a ridge of hills reach¬ 
ing out to Bethlehem and Hebron, westwardly rise the 
hills and mountains of Judah and Benjamin, northward¬ 
ly the mountains of Samaria, northeastwardly spreads 
out the dismal wilderness in which our Saviour fasted 
the forty days and was tempted of the devil, eastwardly, 
immediately beyond the Jehoshaphat valley rises the 
beautiful Mount of Olives, and beyond it, some twenty 
miles away, we see the deep valley of the Jordan and the 
sparkling waters of the Dead Sea. 

Our guide next took us to the southwestern part of the 
city—that is Mount Zion—now known as the Armenian 
Quarters. We passed through Zion Gate and came to 
the House of Caiaphas, where our guide pointed out to 
us the exact spot where Peter stood and warmed himself, 
and where the cock crew, reminding him of the words of 
the Lord and calling him to repentance. We were also 
taken to that upper room in which the Lord’s Supper 
was instituted, and were shown the “really Tomb of Da¬ 
vid,” as Ibrahim put it. 

On another tour of sight-seeing we visited the Temple 
area. It is only in more recent years that any but Mo- 


THE HOLY LAND. 


217 



The Upper Room. 

hammedans have been allowed within this sacred en¬ 
closure. Even to-day it is necessary to be provided with 
a military escort. Our consul at Jerusalem, Mr. Thomas ‘ 
E. Wallace of Iowa, told us that he would not himself 
venture wdthin the enclosure without such an escort. 
Our guide, accordingly, secured two soldiers, one to rep¬ 
resent the Turkish government and another that of our 
own country. Thus provided we felt perfectly safe to 
enter within the enclosure. We entered it from th'e 
western side. It is a level tract of ground embracing 
about 35 acres. Near the center of it rises the celebrated 
Dome of the Eock believed to cover the exact spot on 
which Abraham was to offer up his son Isaac. 

This remarkable structure dates back to the seventh 
century. Tradition states that when Omar had taken 
Jerusalem, in 637, his first enquiry was for the spot of 

Glimpses of three Continents. 15. 








218 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Solomon’s Temple. The heap of rubbish which then 
covered the place was pointed out to him. He ordered 
it removed and built a wooden mosque upon the spot. 
This was removed about 50 years later and the present 
magnificent structure was begun. 

It is built in the form of an octagon, each side meas¬ 
uring 68 feet in length. The building is covered with 
richly colored porcelain tiles. There are 68 stained-glass 
windows of wonderful beauty and richness. Nearly every 
available mural space is covered with inscriptions from 
the Koran. The dome, which is of wood, is 98 feet high 
and 15 feet in diameter. The sacred Bock is immediate¬ 
ly under it and is surrounded by a circular balustrade. 
Below the Bock is a cave which is entered by a 'flight of 
eleven stairs. The cave or chamber is not large and is 
about six feet high. Here our guide pointed out to us 
the praying places of Abraham, David, Solomon, and 
Mohammed. Near the center of the cave, but covered 
over, is a well, called by the Moslems the Well of Spirits, 
into which they say that all spirits descend. Many cur¬ 
ious Mohammedan legends center around this place. It 
is claimed that it was from the Bock that Mohammed as¬ 
cended to heaven on the divine steed brought him by 
Gabriel. As the steed ascended the Bock wanted to fol¬ 
low, but Gabriel held it back. Our guide pointed out 
to us the imprint of Gabriel’s hand in the Bock. 

What wonderful scenes this place has witnessed! Here 
according to tradition Melchizedek offered sacrifices to 
the most high God; here Abraham was about to offer up 
his son Isaac; here Solomon offered that wonderful 
prayer at the dedication of the Temple; hither the Tribes 
came up to worship; here the infant Saviour was pre- 



The Dome of the Rock 












220 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


sented in the Temple; here at the age of twelve he sat 
in the midst of the doctors; here he taught in the Tem¬ 
ple ; and from here he drove out the moneychangers and 
those who had turned the holy place into a place of mer¬ 
chandise. What a chain of wonderful vicissitudes ex¬ 
tend from the days of Abraham and Melchizedek to the 
present day! What scenes may yet be enacted here ? 

At various places on the east, south, and west sides 
of the Temple area various portions of ancient walls are 
still to be seen. The lowest layers are formed of im¬ 
mense blocks, laid without mortar, and plainly not of 
Koman workmanship. It is not unlikely that these old 
remains date back to the time of Solomon. At least the 
Jews so believe. At one of these places, along the west 
side, the Jews have purchased the privilege of meeting 
every Friday afternoon to worship, and to lament over 
the fallen condition of their city and their nation. 

This is known as the Jews’ Wailing Place. Here they 
gather — men, women, and children — every Friday 
afternoon, to pray, to weep, and to lament. Most of 
them come on their own behalf, but some on behalf of 
others, for devout Jews in various parts of the world 
who cannot themselves go to this sacred place to pray 
and to lament engage certain of their countrymen to 
do it for them, and pay them for this service. They 
weep and pray and press their lips against the ancient 
stones and implore God to remember them andto send 
them a deliverer. They often recite in full the 79th 
Psalm: “0 God, the heathen are come into thine inher¬ 
itance ; thy holy temple have they defiled, they have laid 
Jerusalem on heaps.” The exercises are mostly of an 
individual sort, for the worshipers are coming and going 



The Jews' Wailing Place 


















222 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


continually, but at times they become general. A reader 
leads and the people respond in concert. Here are some 
fragments of a litany commonly used: 
header—For the palace which lies deserted— 

People—We sit in solitude and weep. 

Header—For the temple which is destroyed, 

For the walls that have been laid low. 

For our glory which is departed, 

For the precious stones of the temple ground 
to powder, 

For our priests who have erred and gone astray. 
For our kings who have contemned God— 
People—We sit in solitude and weep. 

Eeader—Jehovah, we pray Thee have mercy on Zion! 
People—And gather together the Children of Jerusa¬ 
lem. 

Eeader—Haste, oh, haste, Eedeemer of Zion. 

People-—Comfort the heart of Jerusalem. 

Eeader—Let Zion be girded with beauty and majesty. 
People—Show favor unto Jerusalem. 

Eeader—Let Zion find again her kings. 

People—Comfort those who mourn over Jerusalem. 
Eeader—Let peace and joy return to Zion. 

People—Let the Branch of Jesse break forth in Jeru¬ 
salem. 

To us the scene seemed sad and pathetic. Some of 
the worshipers no doubt repeated the psalms and prayers 
as a mere matter of form, but others were seriously in 
earnest. They could not realize that the Deliverer they 
prayed for had come, and that their fathers had rejected 
him, and that, hence, this doom had come upon them. 
The scene also shows that the Jews as a whole have not 


THE HOLY LAND. 


223 


given up the hope of again securing control and posses¬ 
sion of their city and country. Large numbers of Jews 
are returning to their country every year. I made an 
effort to ascertain how many Jews on an average return 
annually, and one of the persons best informed on the 



A Rabbi of the Tribe of Judah. 











224 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


subject said: “It is impossible to ascertain the number 
of Jews annually settling in this country, but the num¬ 
ber is, no doubt, very large. The Jews are forbidden by 
law to immigrate. Every Jew entering Palestine is 
obliged to furnish a guarantee that he will leave again 
within a given time. But once admitted, he is soon lost 
sight of, and when the time for his return comes, his 
surety throws up his hands and declares that the fellow 
has disappeared and he can’t help it. The law is not en¬ 
forced, but it makes it impossible to secure’ reliable sta¬ 
tistics on the subject.” 

One of our most enjoyable excursions from Jerusalem 
was a drive to Bethlehem. Passing through the Jaffa 
Gate, we crossed the Valley of Hinnom and drove along 
an ancient road on the summit of a ridge of hills to the 
southward. The road commands a beautiful view of the 
country on all sides. To our left is the Hill of Evil 
Counsel, so named, it is said, from the tradition that it 
was there Judas agreed with the chief priests to betray 
his Master. To our right is the Valley of Rephaim, 
where David defeated the Philistines. After half an 
hour’s drive we reach the highest point of the road. Be¬ 
hind us we have a fine view of Jerusalem and before us 
on a distant hill lies Bethlehem. In about 20 minutes 
more we reach the Tomb of Rachel. The building mark¬ 
ing the spot is modern, but there is little doubt that the 
site is near the scene of Rachel’s death. 

Like all villages and cities in the East, Bethlehem 
looks better at a distance than near at hand. It lies on 
a hill six miles south of Jerusalem and has a population 
of about eight thousand. Though the inhabitants are 
nearly all Christians the place has its full share of filth, 


THE HOLY LAND. 


225 



The Tomb of Rachel. 


ignorance, and superstition. At the eastern end of the 
city stands the Church of the Nativity and the Latin, 
Greek, and Armenian convents. Under these fortress¬ 
like buildings is the Grotto of the Nativity. Here, too, 
we find that misdirected piety and zeal have so com¬ 
pletely defaced the natural cave that nothing remains 
of the ancient surroundings. The grotto is lined with 
marble slabs and decorated with lamps and rich hang¬ 
ings. The place of the nativity is marked with a silver 
cross and the legend, in Latin, “Here was born of the 
Virgin Mary Jesus Christ.” The place of the manger, 
near by, is also designated. Here too is the cell in 
which St. Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate, lived 
and labored for thirty years and where he died and was 
taid to rest. 




226 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Leaving the grotto and the church and convents, we 
walked to the extreme eastern end of the town from 
which high eminence we had a magnificent view of the 
country to the eastward. A rich and beautiful valley 
was spread out before us to a great distance. Here in 
this valley lay the fertile fields of Boaz where Ruth the 
fair Moabitess gleaned in the harvest field. The grotto 
we had visited may or may not have been the place of 
our Saviour’s birth, but of this we were certain as we 
stood there under the clear blue sky, looking out upon 
that beautiful landscape of hills and valleys, that here 
somewhere nineteen hundred years ago the Saviour of 
the world was born, and these very hills and valleys 
were lighted up with the glory of heaven and were made 
to re-echo the angels’ song of peace and good will, which 
has ever since resounded throughout the world. 

Another day we took a donkey ride about Jerusalem. 
Again we passed out through the Jaffa Gate and down 
the Valley of Hinnom around the south side of the city 
to the place where the Tyropoeon Valley comes down to 
join the Hinnom. Here we turned up the steep valley 
till we reached an ancient pool or reservoir. This has 
been identified as the Pool of Siloam. There is still 
water flowing. It issues forth from an artificial aque¬ 
duct or tunnel about 1,700 feet long cut through the 
solid rock of the hill on which the city is built. This 
aqueduct was explored by Dr. Edward Robinson in 
1838, and in 1880 a schoolboy, bathing in the Virgin's 
Pool at the other end of the aqueduct, accidentally dis¬ 
covered a stone with inscriptions which were found to 
give an account of the cutting of this tunnel. The in¬ 
scription is believed to date from the time of Hezekiah. 



Bethlehem. 
















228 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


We retraced our steps and proceeded down the Hin- 
nom Valley to its junction with the Valley of Jehosha- 
phat. On our right is a steep slope of a spur of the Hill 
of Evil Counsel, the Aceldama, or Potter’s Field of 
Scripture. This part of the valley is the Tophet, or Ge¬ 
henna of ancient times. We are here 456 feet below the 
summit of Mount Zion. Here is the so-called Well of 
Job, an ancient spring w r ell 125 feet deep, which in wet 
seasons overflows. It has been identified with the En- 
Eogel of Joshua’s day. From this point we went up the 
Kidron or Jehoshaphat Valley, passing the Arab village 
of Siloam on our right and also the so-called Tomb of 
Absalom. Then began the ascent of the Mount of 
Olives. 

The Mount of Olives is one of the most inspiring 
points in the Holy Land. It is one of the places about 
whose identity there is no doubt. Neither superstition 
nor fraud has been able to change its character or to 
rob it of its natural beauty. In all essential particulars 
it is the same to-day as it was in the days of our Saviour. 
If we had felt disappointed at many of the things that 
w r e had witnessed thus far in the Holy Land, all disap¬ 
pointment had vanished now. The sacred picture we 
had formed of the Holy City now came back to us, for 
there lay Jerusalem in the sunlight, across the Kidron, 
on a mountain a hundred feet below us, a glorified city. 
What a magnificent sweep your vision has from this 
elevated point! What a wonderful panorama, of natural 
beauty and historic scenes is spread out before you! 
What holy memories cluster about this sacred Mount! 
On its western slope our Saviour suffered the agonies of 
Gethsemane; from its summit he beheld the city and 


THE HOLY LAND. 


229 



Western Slope of the Mount of Olives. 
wept over it; on its eastern slope he found a peaceful re¬ 
treat in the friendly home at Bethany; and from its 
summit or slopes, in all probability, he gave his last com¬ 
mission to his disciples and ascended into heaven. 

On our way back we took a long detour toward the 
north along the road opened up a few years ago for the 
benefit of the German emperor. Our course took us 
past the so-called American Colony, and we decided 
to make a short call. We were most cordially received 
by Mrs. Yester and her mother, Mrs. Spafford, the 
founder of the colony. We also met two Misses Mattson, 
Mrs. Gould, and Mrs. Whiting (formerly of Bock 
Island, Ill.). Visitors are always treated to some simple 
refreshments. This time it was tea and doughnuts. 





230 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


The colony was founded about thirty years ago by 
Mrs. Anna Spafford, a Norwegian-American of Chicago, 
who with her husband, Horatio S'pafford, and a band 
of colonists arrived in Jerusalem in 1881. The colony 
was afterwards joined by a colony from Sweden, from 
which time it would seem that the majority of the 
colonists have been Swedes, for which reason the colony 
is sometimes known as the Swedish Colony. It is a 
religious organization based on communistic principles. 
Its aim is not to accumulate wealth, but to spend all 
profits in helping the poor and carrying on educational 
work especially among Jews and Mohammedans. 

Diverse opinions have been expressed as to the char¬ 
acter of this colony. Our acquaintance with it was al¬ 
together too slight to warrant the expression of any 
opinion based on personal knowledge. It is proper, 
however, to state that the colony exercises a powerful 
influence upon all people in Jerusalem and is held in 
the highest respect. “They are the only people under 
the sun/’ said the American consul at Jerusalem, “who 
can visit the Mosque of Omar without a military escort. 
They can go anywhere they please and be perfectly safe; 
they can even go unattended among the wild Bedouins 
across the Jordan without danger ; and any one who is 
known to be stopping with them is perfectly safe.” 

“But, how,” I asked, “have they secured this favor 
and confidence?” 

“Through their benevolence,” he replied. “They give 
even their last penny to the poor and needy without 
regard to race or creed. They alone have come here to 
help the natives and not to gather wealth at their ex¬ 
pense; and wherever you go you hear the Arab and the 


THE HOLY LAND. 


231 


Jew calling down the blessings of Allah or Jehovah on 
the Americans A 

We continued our course toward Jerusalem, which lay 
directly south of us. When we arrived within half a 
mile of the Damascus Gate we left our donkeys to the 
care of the donkey hoys and walked a short distance to 
the left to the so-called Tombs of the Kings. They are 
large square caverns or excavations cut in the solid rock 
with many niches or receptacles in the walls for the 
dead bodies. When these excavations were made and 
for whom they were intended nobody knows, but judging 
from their style and workmanship, we infer that they 
belong to the Roman period, perhaps to the first century. 

We stopped again just before we reached the Damas¬ 
cus Gate and walked up the hill, or knoll, which I have 
already referred to as the probable site of the Cruci¬ 
fixion. It is a quiet and peaceful place. Its location 
answers well to the Biblical description of Calvary. 
It lies outside the gate at the parting of two roads, where 
many people pass. As you stand on the summit of that 
hill with the city immediately in front of you and to 
your left the deep valley of the Ividron, the slopes of 
Mount Olivet, and the Garden of Gethsemane, the con¬ 
viction comes over you that this is the place where the 
great sacrifice for sin was made and where the great 
miracle of all time took place. 

On the western slope of the hill are the remains of an 
ancient garden. Old cisterns, formerly used for irriga¬ 
tion, have been discovered. Xear the northern end of 
the garden is a rock-cut tomb. General Charles Gordon 
urged that this might he the Holy Sepulcher. It an¬ 
swers very well to the description of the Sepulcher. It 


232 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


is large enough to walk into; it has a doorway with 
grooves above and below in which to roll a large circular 
stone as a door before the entrance. There are also other 
tombs in the vicinity. The Garden Tomb, as it has 
been called, was purchased eighteen years ago for about 
ten thousand dollars. The deed provides “that the Gar¬ 
den and Tomb be kept as a quiet spot, and preserved 
on the one hand from desecration, and on the other 
hand from superstitious uses.” The tomb in which our 
Saviour lay may, indeed, still be in existence, but we 
may never be able to identify it. It would seem very 
precious if we could. But we do not worship holy 
places. It was our Saviour himself who said, “God is 
a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him 
in spirit and in truth.” 

We also made an excursion down to Jericho, the 
Jordan, and the Dead Sea. Our guide secured us a 
good carriage and a coachman well acquainted with the 
road. He also provided us with a Bedouin Arab as an 
escort to protect us against attacks from his own people, 
who are ready to waylay travelers not thus protected 
whenever they have a chance. This is a way the 
Bedouins have of levying blackmail upon travelers. We 
started out early in the morning, drove along the north 
side of the city past the Grotto of Jeremiah at the foot 
of the Calvary hill already described, then down into 
the Jehoshaphat Valley and across the Kidron, now dry, 
to the western slopes of the Mount of Olives. 

Here we halted for a while to visit the Garden of 
Gethsemane. On the way we were met by one of the 
most horrible sights that we witnessed on our whole* 
trip. A large number of miserable people met us. Some 


THE HOLY LAND 


233 



had lost one or both hands, others one or both feet; 
some walked on crutches, and some crawled; some had 
their faces so disfigured that they hardly looked like 
human beings. Their voices were low and hoarse. They 


Our Bedouin Escort. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 16. 





234 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


were holding out their hands, or parts of hands, asking 
for bakshish. They were lepers and their condition was 
most pitiable indeed. A little further down the valley 
is a leper colony, where the unfortunates are cared for, 
and where they get everything they need. But as they 
are there under rules and restrictions, some prefer their 
freedom, and so sit here and beg for their living. 

A short distance up the slope is the traditional site 
of the garden. There is very good reason for believing 
that the tradition, which dates back to the fourth cen¬ 
tury, is correct in locating it here. Few places are better 
identified. The place, covering less than half an acre, 
is surrounded by a stuccoed wall built in recent times 
by the Latins. It is now under the control of the Fran¬ 
ciscans. It contains a number of very ancient olive 
trees. As the olive is a tree of very slow growth and 
may live and bear, it is claimed, for an indefinite time, 
and as there are olive trees in the world to-day which 
are believed to antedate the Christian era, it may not 
be altogether impossible that the oldest of these trees 
may date back to the time of Christ, or at least may 
have grown from roots of trees that did. 

Here were pointed out to us the Chapel of Agony, 
marking the spot where our Saviour prayed, the place 
where the disciples slept, and the spot where Judas gave 
the kiss of betrayal. It is well that this sacred place, 
in which our Saviour suffered those agonies of soul and 
spirit which we can never fully comprehend, is kept 
from desecration. It would be well too if it could be 
kept from superstitious uses and from being marred 
by the introduction of incongruous additions. 

Having visited this quiet spot and called to mind its 


THE HOLY LAND 


235 


hallowed associations, we returned to our carriage to 
continue our course to Jericho. We skirted along the 
southern slopes of the Mount of Olives, and having 
reached the highest point in the road, we paused a mo¬ 
ment to take a look at the city from this vantage ground. 
It is at this point that the traveler from Jericho and 
the Jordan valley gets the first view of the city, and an 
imposing view it is. Our Saviour no doubt often passed 
along this road and beheld the city from this point. 
It was in all probability from this point that he beheld 
the city and wept over it. It was along this road that 
he made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 

From here the descent begins. In a few minutes we 
pass the village of Bethany, which we will visit on our 
return trip. A little further down, along the right side 
of the road, stands a Russian church, marking the spot 
where Martha met Jesus and said, “Lord, if thou hadst 
been here, my brother had not died.” The road now 
descends in a zigzag way into a deep valley, at the head 
of which is a spring, known as the Apostles’ Fountain. 
It must have been there in the days of our Saviour, and 
he and his disciples no doubt often stopped there to 
drink as they came weary and travel-worn up the steep 
road from Jericho. 

There are no more trees along the road and scarcely 
any grasses or flowers. The country is one vast wilder¬ 
ness of sand hills, cliffs, and gorges. No human habita¬ 
tions are anywhere to be seen. The whole route has 
been infested with robbers from the earliest days. We 
were forcibly reminded of our Saviour’s parable of a 
certain man who “went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 
and fell among thieves.” As a halfway station between 


236 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Jerusalem and Jericho is the so-called Inn of the Good 
Samaritan. Here travelers usually stop for rest and re¬ 
freshments. This is especially the case on the return 
trip as the steep upgrade is a hard strain on the horses. 
On a hill near by are the ruins of an old Mediaeval fort. 

The descent is almost continuous and in many places 
very steep, for in going from Jerusalem to Jericho you 
descend over three thousand feet. Here and there, how- 



A Gorge in the Wilderness. 




The Inn of the Good Samaritan. 









238 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


ever, you have to cross intervening ridges. At such pla¬ 
ces you have a wide view of the wilderness about you, 
and can catch glimpses of the Dead Sea in front of you 
and of the summit of Mount Olivet behind you. At 
short intervals we met groups of hundreds and hundreds 
of Russian pilgrims — men, women, and children — 
returning from the Jordan, clad in their national cos¬ 
tumes and all on foot. It was Lent, the season of pil¬ 
grimages. 

Some distance beyond the inn referred to above, we 
came to a parting of the roads. The road to the left 
runs more directly down to Jericho and is very steep. 
The one to the right makes a long detour to the south 
past the Moslem shrine known as the Tomb of Moses, 
We chose the older and shorter route, which took us 
past the Wady Kelt. Here we halted and walked some 
distance toward our left to a deep gorge, the walls of 
which on either side were in some places almost perpen¬ 
dicular. At the bottom of the gorge flows a stream 
which has been identified by some as the Brook of Che- 
rith, to which the Prophet Elijah was sent in the time 
of the great drought and where the ravens brought him 
bread and flesh mornings and evenings. The identity is 
by no means certain, but the place is certainly a good 
one to hide in. Against the cliffs on the opposite side 
of the gorge may be seen the Monastery of Elijah, or 
the Convent of St. George. 

Resuming our journey we soon reached the last ridge 
of the wilderness. From this point you have one of the 
most enchanting views in the Holy Land. Before you 
lies the Jordan Valley with its wonderful associations, 
and beyond it in a line from north to south are the 


THE HOLY LAND 


239 



mountains of Bashan, Gilead, and Moab. Almost due 
east of you rises the lofty form of Mount Nebo, from 
which Moses viewed the Promised Land. A little to 
your right is reflected the glassy surface of the Dead 


The Convent of St. George. 







240 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Sea, The waters are so heavy that they are seldom 
disturbed by any waves. Like a majestic mirror lies the 
sea in its deep bed with the lofty mountains of Judah, 
Gilead, and Moab forming a magnificent frame around 
it. 

At the foot of the ridge we came to some ancient ruins 
of baths and aqueducts. This is the site of the Jericho 
of the time of Christ. Modern Jericho lies about a 
mile farther east and lower down. It is a miserable vil¬ 
lage of some fifty houses, a Russian hospice, and a few 
hotels. As it was not quite time for lunch we drove 
through the village and turned toward the northwest for 
about a mile to the site of the Jericho of Old Testament 
times. Excavations are going on and large portions of 
the ancient city walls are brought to light. Many re¬ 
mains of utensils of stone and pottery lie scattered about 
the excavations. Immediately west of the site rises the 
dark and threatening form of the Mount of Temptation, 
so called from the tradition that from its summit the 
tempter offered our Saviour the kingdoms of the world. 
Directly below the ruins are the gushing waters of Eli¬ 
sha’s Fountain.(See II Kings 2: 19—22). 

After lunch at Hotel Belle Yue w T e drove straight 
across the trackless waste to the Dead Sea, a distance of 
about six miles. Though it was early in March the heat 
in the valley was quite oppressive. Up to this time we 
had not been comfortably warm anywhere in Palestine. 
Wraps were needed nearly all the time. At last we 
stood on the shores of the mysterious sea. We had 
reached the lowest spot in the world. We stood thirteen 
hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean sea. 
The whole region is one of great mystery both from an 



Belle Vue Hotel, Jericho. 









242 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


historical and a geological point of view. Here flourish¬ 
ed ages ago an ancient civilization which was blotted out 
because of sin, and the blight and curse seem to rest up¬ 
on the surroundings to this day. 

The sea is forty-six miles long and nearly ten miles 
across at its widest point. In very wet years when the 
Jordan and other streams carry down an unusual amount 
of water its length is somewhat increased. It is one of 
the deepest inland seas in the world. Its greatest depth 
is over thirteen hundred feet, while that of Lake Su¬ 
perior is only a. thousand. Its water is the heaviest in 
the world, holding minerals in solution to the amount 
o>f twenty-six per cent, of its weight. It is so bitter 
that you cannot hold it in your mouth. The water is 
heavier than your body and you cannot sink in it. You 
can lie upon its surface as on a couch. You will find 
it difficult to swim in it, however, for your feet do not 
want to stay down. Salt crystals are seen everywhere 
around, and everything you handle feels gummy to the 
touch. No life can exist in the bitter waters. The 
temperature of the water near the surface is 90 degrees 
Fahrenheit. Immense volumes of water are poured in¬ 
to the sea every day by the Jordan and other streams, but 
owing to the high temperature the evaporation is so 
great that the surface maintains about the same level 
from year to year. It is claimed, however, that in the 
course of ages the water has gradually diminished, and 
that the time may come when it will disappear alto¬ 
gether, leaving only an immense salt basin for the Jor¬ 
dan and other streams to lose themselves in. 

Having spent some time on these lonely shores, we 
continued our trip northward along the Jordan to the 



The Bead Sea. 











244 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


vicinity of the place where we may suppose the Children 
of Israel to have crossed under Joshua. The Jordan is 
not a beautiful stream. Its w r aters are not clear, but 
cloudv or even muddy. Its width varies from 80 to 160 
feet, and its depth from 5 to 12 feet. During the wet 
season, however, after the spring rains and melting 
snows of the Hermon, it overflows these inner banks and 
spreads out over bottom lands varying from 40 rods to a 
mile in width. These bottom lands are overgrown with 
trees and bushes, forming a perfect jungle, where the 
lion formerly had his lair and where the leopard still 
lurks. It is to this fact that the Prophet Jeremiah 
alludes when he says: “Behold, he shall come up like 
a lion from the swelling of Jordan” (Jer. 49: 19). 

The river Jordan rises in various springs along the 
foot of Mount Hermon, flows through lake Merom and 
the Sea of Galilee, and empties into the Dead Sea. 
From its historical source at Banias to its mouth it is 
only 104 miles in a direct line. In that short distance 
it falls 2,300 feet, the greatest fall of any river in the 
world, except of the Sacramento in California. For 
three-fourths of the distance it flows in a channel below 
sea level. Its course is so tortuous that while the direct 
distance from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea is only 
60 miles, the course of the river is 200 miles. 

As evening was approaching w^e now turned our course 
back to Jericho. On our way we passed an old ruin near 
a hill called Tell Jeliul by the Arabs. This is probably 
the site of ancient Gilgal, where the Israelites first en¬ 
camped after crossing the Jordan, where they celebrated 
their first passover in the Promised Land, where they 
raised up the twelve memorial stones, and where the 


THE HOLY LAND 


245 


manna ceased to fall. From this place they went forth 
and compassed the city of Jericho day after day until the 
seventh day when the city fell. 

We reached our hotel at nightfall in good time for 
dinner, and spent a part of the evening writing letters. 
It seemed almost like a dream to date a letter at “Jeri« 
cho”. We set out on our return trip before daylight 
the next morning, and reached the table lands of the 
wilderness before sunrise. We halted awhile and climb¬ 
ed one of the highest of the sand hills to see the sun 
rise over the mountains beyond the Jordan. It was a 
wonderful sight. Below lay the deep, mysterious valley 
still in shadows, while the rays of the sun were gilding 
the peaks of Mount Nebo and lighting up the table 
lands of Gilead and Moab. 

The return trip was far more strenuous than the out¬ 
going one had been. The grade in many places was 
very steep and some of us had to walk at times. We 
often took short cuts across hills, while the carriage 
drove around. It was near noon when we turned off 
from the main road and drove up to the little village of 
Bethany. 

Modern Bethany, now called El Azariyeh, is a poor 
and miserable Moslem village. It derives its importance 
to the traveler solely from the fact that here our Saviour 
often turned in to find rest and sympathy in the quiet 
home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and from the 
circumstance that here he raised Lazarus from the dead. 
An old ruin of brick, stone, and mortar is pointed out 
as the house of Mary and Martha, another is marked by 
tradition as the house of Simon the Leper, and at no 
great distance from there is a vault reached by a descent 


246 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


of twenty-five steps. This is known as the Tomb of 
Lazarus. An Englishman in our company, who evident¬ 
ly did not believe in the tradition, remarked, as he 
emerged into the upper air once more: “I have crawled 
down into so many deep and dark holes since I came to 
Jerusalem that I feel like a veritable rat.” Unless you 
can look away from the filth and squalor of the present 
and think only of the hallowed associations of this little 
village you are apt to feel the disgust expressed both in 
word and look by this Englishman. 

We should now have made an excursion into' Galilee 
and perhaps to Damascus, but our time was getting too 
short. I had written to our missionary, Eev. Joseph 
Knanishu, while we were still in India, to meet us 
about the first of April in Batoum at the eastern end 
of the Black Sea, and to accompany us from there to 
Urmia, Persia, where my other commission on this trip, 
that from the Augustana Synod, to inspect its mis¬ 
sion in Persia, was to take me. There were now but 
three weeks left and in the meantime we wanted to 
see Egypt and Greece. We were, therefore, compelled 
to leave out this part of the usual trip to the Holy Land, 
and to return to Jaffa once more and arrange for pas¬ 
sage back to Port Said. Here we bade farewell to our 
faithful guide, who had been so untiring in his effort 
to serve us. We have often thought of him since with 
the pleasantest recollections, and one of the most wel¬ 
come greetings we received the following Christmas, 
when we had safely reached our home, was a souvenir 
booklet from the Holy Land with “greetings and wishes 
from Ibrahim Accad-Said.” 


ATHENS 


283 



Bethany. 











CHAPTER XI. 

Egypt. 

We were again favored with fair weather, and board¬ 
ed our steamer, the “Assouan” of the Khedivial Line, 
without accident or serious trouble. At the dinner table 
in the evening we met an elderly gentleman and his 
wife from Fremont, Mich. We had met them the pre¬ 
vious November in Naples, where we had stopped for 
several days at the same hotel. When we sailed for 
India they sailed for Algiers, and nothing seemed more 
unlikely than that we should meet again on this trip. 
But so it happened; our paths crossed again. It seemed 
almost like meeting home folks to meet and talk with 
them once more. Such meetings with persons whom we 
had met before on our trip happened to us no less than 
six times, and helped us to realize that our world is not 
so large after all. 

The following morning we sailed into the harbor of 
Fort Said, past the long concrete mole, or breakwater, 
and the magnificent statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps. 
This was the third time we had landed at this celebrat¬ 
ed port. We received a large batch of mail, forwarded 
from India, and spent the forenoon in reading and an¬ 
swering letters. At one o’clock in the afternoon we 


EGYPT. 


249 


boarded the train for Cairo. Most of the railroads in 
Egypt are owned by the state. They are well managed, 
and yon can travel in Egypt with as mnch safety and 
comfort as in oor own country. The distance is 146 
miles, and the time required, about four hours. 

The first 49 miles took us directly south along the 
canal to Ismailia. During the greater part of the way 
the roadbed is a narrow embankment with the canal to 
the left and Lake Menzaleh to the right. This is the 
largest lake in Egypt and is separated from the sea by a 
low and narrow strip of coast land extending from the 
Damietta mouth of the Nile to Port Said. It is very 
shallow and has been formed during the last thousand 
years by the submergence of the land. It is a matter 
of note that the northern side of the Isthmus is sinking 
while the southern side is rising. Just before reaching 
Ismailia we came to the highest point of the Isthmus, 
where the cut for the canal is sixty feet. Immediately 
north of this point lay the ancient thoroughfare along 
which the caravans and armies passed from Egypt into 
Syria, and along which the old patriarchs passed in 
going down into Egypt and returning to the Promised 
Land. 

A fresh water canal has been constructed from the 
Nile to Ismailia and thence to Suez on the Eed Sea, 
furnishing the latter place with its fresh water supply. 
From the same source water is piped to Port Said. 
It was along the bed of the present canal that the an¬ 
cient pharaohs before the time of Joseph constructed a 
canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, thus making it 
posible even in those early days to sail from the Medi¬ 
terranean to the Red Sea and to India. The weak 


Glimpses of three Continents. 17. 


250 


GLIMPSES OE THREE CONTINENTS. 



pharaohs after the Nineteenth Dyansty allowed the 
canal to be filled, up with drifting sand, and when, in 
the seventh century, B. C., Pharaoh Necho attempted 
to reopen it he found the undertaking too' great and, 
perhaps, yielded to the warning of his engineers, who 
proved to him that the Red Sea was higher than the 
Delta and that he would flood the country if they should 
carry out his design. 

From Tsmailia our course turned due west along the 
fresh water canal just referred to. Some distance west 


Egyptian Scenery. 








# 




♦ 



The Pyramids in time of Inundation. 









252 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


and a little to our left are some ancient ruins, which 
have been identified with the Pithom of the Book of 
Exodus, one of the treasure cities built by the captive 
Israelites. As this was the doorway from Asia into 
Egypt, it was natural that it should be well defended. 
There were no doubt forts and garrisons located here 
and also immense depots of supplies, or as they have 
been termed “treasure cities”. 

Suddenly the scenery changes. The desert is gone. 
We are in the fertile and ancient land of Goshen. Men, 
women, and children are at work in the fields, cultivat¬ 
ing, planting, and watering. The implements used are 
of the crudest sort. Some of them have changed very 
little since the days of Abraham. Various means are 
employed for raising the water from the canals to the 
irrigation ditches to water the fields. Some of the con- 
tiivances used both here and in India are very old, as 
is shown by the fact that they are frequently pictured 
on the walls of the ancient Egyptian tombs. The prin¬ 
cipal crops are wheat, rice, cotton, and vegetables. 

After sixty miles of travel from Ismailia we reached 
the eastern arm of the Nile, and our course bore to the 
south. We moved to the west side of the train to watch 
for the first view of the pyramids. Suddenly our train 
veered to the southeast, and the majestic peaks, so 
strangely familiar to our sight, were thrown full into 
view. There they stood in the distant haze, piercing the 
skies, appearing to us, as they had done to millions be¬ 
fore us, rather like the eternal creations of God than the 
mere works of man's bands. 

Cairo is indescribable. It is one of the world’s great 
cities. Here the East and the West meet as nowhere 


EGYPT. 


253 



else on earth. Here the Europeans and Orientals of 
every language and country meet and jostle each other 
on the streets and in the public places. Magnificent 
buildings and clean broad streets are here, and within a 
stone’s throw are the narrow and crooked lanes, the 


A Street in Cairo. 









254 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


reeking bazars, and every feature of Oriental life. In 
no other city in the world is the habit of eating and 
drinking out of doors indulged in to such an extent as 
here. The open space and the sidewalk in front of 
every hotel, restaurant, coffee-house, or other public 
place of this kind are filled with chairs and little tables 
where men and women may be seen at all hours of the 
day and until late at night, eating and drinking, and 
especially sipping coffee a la Turque. 

The best view of Cairo may be had from the Citadel 
on a spur of the Mokattam Hills in the southeastern 
part of the city. From this elevated point you see Cairo 
with its nearly a million inhabitants and its four 
hundred mosques spread out before you. To the north 
lies the Delta, and to the south extends as far as the eye 
can see the valley of the Nile, a narrow strip of green, 
with burning wastes of sand on either side. 

Of the European languages spoken in Cairo French 
is by far the most common. After it comes the Eng¬ 
lish, and then the German. Of the native population the 
Fellahin are the most numerous. They are descended 
from the ancient Egyptians, have accepted the Moham¬ 
medan faith, and are chiefly engaged in agriculture. 
The Copts are also descendants of the ancient Egyptians. 
They, however, adhere to the Christian faith and live 
mostly in cities and towns. The Turks are the ruling 
class. Other inhabitants are Arabs, Armenians, Berbers, 
Nubians, Negroes, Jews, and Europeans. The entire 
population numbers about ten millions. The habitable 
area of Egypt is only a little over twelve thousand 
square miles, and its density of population is, therefore, 
greater than that of any European country. 


EGYPT. 


255 



The women, except the very poorest, when appearing 
in public or on the streets, always wear a veil over the 
face from the eyes down and a “cruel-looking” ornament 
on their noses between the eyes. Children are carried 


Mother and Child. 

on the shoulders of their mothers or nurses. Here as 
elsewhere in the Orient, women carry their loads on 
their heads. This compels them to hold their heads 
erect and .their shoulders straight and gives them a 
more graceful walk than their Western sisters have. 
The donkey is the most common beast of burden in 








256 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


the cities. Camels are used in the desert and for ex¬ 
tended journeys. Oxen are largely used in the fields. 
The houses of the common people are built of mud and 
sun-dried brick. The people live in villages on elevated 
spots above the high-water marks of the inundations. 
The country is entirely dependent upon the river, for 
without it Egypt would be a desert. Engineering works 
to control the overflow of the Nile date back to the time 
of Menes of the First Dynasty. The latest works of 
the kind are the immense dams and reservoirs construct¬ 
ed by the British government near the First Cataract, 
six hundred miles above Cairo, at a cost of over ten 
million dollars. 

The best time to visit Egypt is during the months of 
February and March. The waters have then subsided, 
the dampness gone, and the extreme heat of summer 
not yet set in. Egypt in the days of Moses was visited 
by the ten celebrated plagues. But modern Egypt has 
its plagues too, especially for the traveler and tourist. 
Let me mention a few of them. First, there are the 
flies. These dangerous pests are found in all parts of 
the world, but, perhaps, nowhere else in such numbers 
as in Egypt. GuMe-books to the country usually warn 
strangers against the flies: “Do not let them get near 
your eyes.” There are no more common diseases in the 
Orient than those of the eyes, and it is claimed that the 
flies carry the disease from eye to eye. 

The sand storms and the dust which is nearly always 
present in the air, especially in upper Egypt, form an¬ 
other plague. Of our experience with one of these sand 
storms I may speak in another place. 

Another plague are the numerous beggars that beset 


EGYPT. 


257 


you on every side. Begging is a recognized evil all over 
the Orient, but, perhaps, it is nowhere more pronounced 
than here. Mothers will thrust their crippled and 
afflicted children into your very face to appeal to your 
sympathy and to obtain bakshish. It has been said that 
the first word an Egyptian child learns is bakshish. No 
one seems to be above begging, especially from tourists. 
Going to the Citadel one afternoon, I boarded a street 
car and handed the conductor a certain coin for my fare. 
He handed back some change, but I saw at once that it 
was not enough and called his attention to it. He 
leaned over close to my ear and whispered, “Bakshish.” 
I thought, of course, that this must be an exceptional 
case, but when I returned, I took another street car and 
handed the conductor the correct fare. He, however, 
was not satisfied, but leaned over as the other fellow had 
done and whispered the same magic word. 

The seemingly numberless dragomans, or guides, are 
no small plague to the tourist and stranger in Cairo. 
As soon as you venture into the street they surround 
you to solicit your patronage, and it is almost impossible 
to get rid of them. They know the names of places and 
objects of interest to the tourist, but they are extremely 
ignorant of Egypt’s great past and can tell you nothing 
about the objects you see. They have pockets full of 
recommendations received from tourists, and though 
they cannot read a line of them nor know a word of 
their contents, they seem to know where they received 
each one of them. On one occasion one of these guides, 
a rather uninteresting looking fellow, besieged me for 
a long while. I told him again and again that I did 
not care for a guide and that he was only wasting his 


258 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



time, but lie assured me that his time wasn’t worth any¬ 
thing and urged me to read his recommendations. 
“Here,” he said, “is one that I received from an Amer¬ 
ican. I want you to read it.” Well, to please him I 
yielded, and this is what I read: “Hassan Marai served 
me as dragoman in Cairo for one day, and that was 
enough for me.” 

The chief center of interest to the tourist in Egypt 
are, no doubt, the Pyramids of Gizeh. They lie along 
the edge of the desert about five miles southwest of the 
Nile bridge at Cairo. In 1868 the Khedive, Ismail 
Pasha, built a road across the bottom lands from the 
Nile to the pyramids for the convenience of his royal 
guests on the occasion of the public opening of the Suez 
Canal. This excellent roadway is an embankment high 
enough for use during inundations and wide enough for 
pedestrians, carriages, and street-car lines. It forms 


The Road to the Pyramids. 










The Pyramids and the Mena House. 





260 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


a magnificent avenue lined on either side with beautiful 
shade trees. It is a busy thoroughfare where horses and 
carriages, automobiles, camels, donkeys, and pedestrians 
form a moving picture all hours of the day. 

It was about nine o’clock in the morning when we 
arrived at the Mena House at the foot of the ledge of 
rocks and desert table-land on which the pyramids are 
built. This table-land is about 150 feet higher than the 
cultivated valley. The ascent from the Mena House is 
usually made on foot or on donkey-back. The three 
large pyramids of this group lie in a line from northeast 
to southwest, separated by intervals of about six hundred 
feet. The four sides of each one face respectively the 
four points of the compass. The Great Pyramid of 
Cheops comes first. You approach it from the north. 
Your experience at first is apt to be the same as at be¬ 
holding a mountain for the first time. It does not seem 
as high as you had pictured it. Imagination is apt to 
exaggerate, and you have no means of making compari¬ 
sons. Gradually, however, the immense proportions be¬ 
gin to grow on you, and you realize that all other struc¬ 
tures you have ever seen sink into commonplaces beside 
this magnificent pile. 

This pyramid was built by Khufu, the first king of 
the Fourth Dynasty, about 3,000 years before Christ. 
According to Herodotus he employed 100,000 men for 
twenty years in its construction. It is built of lime¬ 
stone quarried on the east side of the river. S'ome of 
the blocks are of immense size, weighing many tons. 
It has been suggested that they were transported during 
the inundations and floated across the valley on rafts. 
They were raised from the valley to the plateau by 


EGYPT. 


261 



means of massive causeways, remains of which may be 
seen to this day. How these immense blocks were han¬ 
dled, how they were raised hundreds of feet and laid 
in their proper places in the pyramid nobody can tell. 
The perpendicular height of this pyramid was 481 feet. 
Its height to-day is only 451 as 30 feet have been re¬ 
moved to afford convenient standing room for those who 
wished to climb to the top. The ascent is made along 
the southeast angle. It should be attempted only by 
those who are physically strong, and even they should 


The Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, and Ruins of Temple. 






262 


GLIMrSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


not attempt it, except with the assistance of properly 
trained guides. 

The base of the pyramid is a perfect square, each side 
measuring 755 feet. The area covered is a little over 
thirteen acres. The sides slope evenly so that the apex 
of the pyramid is exactly over the center of the base. 
To say that this immense pile contains about 85,000,000 
cubic feet of stone does not convey any definite idea of 
its size. But let us tear it down and break up the im¬ 
mense blocks into building stone, and let us build two- 
story houses 30x40 feet with eight rooms and with stone 
partitions. We find that 22,000 such houses could be 
built out of this material, or homes for 132,000 people. 

But it is not only its size, but also its workmanship 
that challenges our wonder and admiration. And this 
more especially when we reflect that it was built about 
five thousand years ago, during a period which we are ac¬ 
customed to consider as the childhood of our race. The 
entrance is on the north side, about 45 feet above the 
base. It is a small opening, only 3 feet and 11 inches 
high and 3 feet and 5 inches wide. This low and narrow 
passage descends at an angle of some over 26 degrees 
for 320 feet, then continues on a horizontal line for 
27 feet more, and finally opens into a rock-cut chamber 
directly under the apex and 90 feet below the base of 
the pyramid. Betracing your steps to within 125 feet 
of the entrance, you turn and ascend by another passage, 
at about the same angle, to a distance of 129 feet. Here 
you enter a large hall. At the lower end of it a hori¬ 
zontal passage leads to the so-called Queen’s Chamber. 
The great hall, rising at the same angle as the passage 
way, leads to the entrance of the King’s Chamber. Here 


EGYPT. 


263 


we might have expected to find King Khufu’s mummy. 
But the pyramids were entered and the sacred places 
rifled centuries ago. The king’s mummy is not found 
to-day, but Flinders Petrie recently discovered a statue 
of the king, which enables us to look upon the features 
of this great builder and slave driver. The King’s 
Chamber is lined with red granite slabs, 18% feet long, 
4 feet wide, and 4 inches thick. They were quarried 
at Syene near the First Cataract, 600 miles above Cairo. 
They were polished to the smoothness of glass and so 
exquisitely fitted together that even to-day, after five 



Khufu. 





264 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


thousand years, you can scarcely see the seams. This, 
according to Fergusson, is workmanship that has never 
been surpassed. 

The Second Pyramid is somewhat inferior to the 
First both in size and workmanship. Its geneial plan 
is the same. It covers an area of over eleven acres. Its 
sides have a steeper slope, and, hence, its original height 
was only nine feet less than that of the Great Pyramid, 
or 472 feet. It was built by Khafre, the third king of 
the Fourth Dynasty. His successor, Menkure, built the 
so-called Third Pyramid. It is much smaller than the 
other two. The length of its side is 346 feet. Its base 
covers about three acres, and its height is 215 feet. Be¬ 
sides these three, there are six other pyramids of this 
group, but they are all small and hardly attract any 
attention at all. 

The pyramids were built for royal tombs, and, hence, 
like all other tombs in Egypt, they are found only along 
the edge of the western desert. This region was in the 
direction of sunset, of darkness and night, and formed 
the Egyptian necropolis, or city of the dead. The pyra¬ 
mids belong to the early period of Egyptian history 
when the seat of government was at Memphis in Lower 
Egypt. Hence, they are found only in this part of the 
country and are scattered over a distance of about 50 
miles. There are about 70 of them still extant, some 
of them are mere heaps of ruins. They are arranged in 
about a dozen groups. 

By the time we reach the Twelfth Dynasty Egypt has 
emerged from a period of obscurity, and the capital has 
been moved from Lower to Upper Egypt, from Memphis 
to Thebes. Pyramid tombs are passing out of use, and 


EGYPT. 


265 


there appears a new style of monuments, the obelisk, an 
immense stone shaft covered with hieroglyphic inscrip¬ 
tions. Another period of eclipse follows. Invaders 
from Asia, known as the Hyksos, take possession of 
Egypt and rule it for an unknown length of time. The 



The Obelisk of Heliopolis. 


Eighteenth Dynasty of native rulers arises. The Hyksos 
are expelled, and Egypt enters on a career of conquest 
and becomes a great world empire. Two of the kings 
of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Thothmes III and Amunoph 
III, are reckoned among the world’s greatest rulers. 
The most magnificent ruins in the world, those of 
Karnak and Luxor, on the site of ancient Thebes, date 

Glimpses of three Continents. 18 . 


266 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


from their time and that of their successors of the Nine¬ 
teenth Dynasty. Thothmes III erected monuments of 
his conquests, which stand to-day on the banks of the 
Bosporus, the Tiber, the Thames, and the Hudson. The 
largest of these, a single block of red granite, quarried 
at Syene, measures 105 feet in length and over 9 feet 
square at the base and some over 8 feet square at the top. 
Its weight is 450 tons. It is polished to the smoothness 
of glass and covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions. 
How the ancient Egyptians before the time of Moses 
quarried such immense blocks without blasting, how 
they cut them without steel, how they floated them 
down the river, and by what means they raised them up 
in their appointed places, are questions which cannot 
be answered. It is evident that the Egyptians of that 
day had attained a high degree of mechanical skill, had 
mastered many arts and sciences, possessed institutions 
of higher learning, and that much is implied in the 
statement of Holy Writ that “Moses was learned in all 
the wisdom of the Egyptians/’ 

About a quarter of a mile east of the Second Pyramid 
lies the celebrated Sphinx, the largest piece of sculpture 
in the world. It is cut out of the native rock and meas¬ 
ures in length 150 feet and from base to crown 70 feet. 
The face of this immense man-lion is turned toward the 
east. It is full of expression, but it is somewhat muti¬ 
lated, for the fanatical Arabs in early days did all they 
could to destroy it, and the stupid Mamelukes once used 
it as a target. The origin and purpose of this great 
sculpture remain a mystery. Near it are the massive 
remains of an ancient temple. 

It was early Saturday morning, March 13, that we set 



The Sphinx and the two Great Pyramid)s 














268 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


out to visit the Pyramids of Sakkara and the celebrated 
tombs near them. There are two ways of reaching them. 
The usual one is by rail to Bedrashen near the site of 
ancient Memphis, and then on donkeys across the valley 
to the edge of the desert and up to the pyramids. The 
other is by carriage or street car to the Mena House at 
the foot of the Great Pyramid, and thence across the 
desert by camels or donkeys to Sakkara. We chose the 
latter route as we wanted to try a camel ride in the 
desert. We engaged the services of a dragoman, who 
made all the arrangements for us. 

When we reached the Mena House we found a camel 
with driver and three donkeys with donkey boys waiting 
for us. We did not dare to take only camels, for we were 
afraid that a camel ride of twenty miles would be too 
tiresome. We thought we could take turns riding the 
camel and use the donkeys for the rest. The most dif¬ 
ficult thing about camel riding, for the beginner, is 
mounting and dismounting. The camel is, of course, 
made to kneel. This he does under loud protests, 
groaning and complaining as if he were quarreling with, 
you. Without the help of the driver it would be hard 
for you to keep your saddle as the camel lunges and 
plunges, throwing you first forward and then backward, 
rising first on his hind feet and then on his front ones. 

The camel prefers to walk, and when he does, riding 
is not difficult or disagreeable. But when he runs he 
rolls from side to side and shakes you up till the ex¬ 
perience is not altogether different from that on a rolling 
vessel at sea. The camel is not inaptly called the ship 
of the desert, and the desert itself with its waves of 
drifting sand is not unlike the billowy surface of the 


EGYPT. 


2G9 



A Desert Scene. 


sea. We all had our trial at camel riding, and all 
agreed that except for novelty’s sake we all preferred 
the humble little donkey. 

In about two hours we reached the Pyramids of 
Abusir. They constitute the third group, counting 
from the north, the Gizeh group being the second. They 
belong to the Fifth Dynasty and were originally four¬ 
teen in number. Only five exist to-day in any state of 
preservation at all. There is nothing remarkable about 
them except that they contain, perhaps, the largest 
blocks of stone found in any pyramid, some of the blocks 
measuring 50x35x12 feet. 

It was about noon when we finally reached Sakkara. 
There is one solitary house at the place. It is a mere 
shed. Nobody lives in it any more. It is known as 
Mariette’s house as that celebrated Egyptologist lived 
in it during his studies and explorations at this place. 
Here we ate our lunch, which we had brought with us 
from our hotel. 

The pyramids are not the chief center of interest at 
Sakkara. They are not to be compared in size or work¬ 
manship with the Pyramids of Gizeh. Most of them 




270 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


belong to the Fifth Dynasty. The so-called Terraced 
Pyramid, however, was built by Zoser of the Third 
Dynasty. It is, in all probability, the oldest pyramid 
in existence. It may, in fact, be the first pyramid ever 
built. Zoser constructed on this elevated spot for his 
royal tomb a mastaba, or flat-topped structure with per¬ 
pendicular walls. As his reign prospered he increased 
it in size and built another, similar but smaller, on top 
of it. This process he continued until he had super¬ 
imposed upon his original tomb five successive struc¬ 
tures. The whole presented the appearance -of a ter¬ 
raced pyramid, and may have suggested the pyramidal 
form for the royal tombs in the future. Its base meas¬ 
ures 393 feet in length and 351 feet in width, and its 
height is 197 feet. It is closed as it is not safe to visit 
the interior. 

The most interesting sights at Sakkara are the tombs. 
They were cut in the rock or built like mastabas above 
ground. They are now, however, all buried deep in the 
sand, and you would never suspect as you w r alk over 
them that there are tombs underneath your feet. How 
many tombs may yet be discovered under those heaps of 
sand no one can tell. We visited four of them—those 
of Thi, Mera, Kaben, and Ptah-hetep. They belong 
to the early dynasties and antedate the time of Abraham 
by several centuries. One of these tombs, that of Mera, 
contains no less than 32 chambers. The walls and ceil¬ 
ings of all these tombs are covered with sculptures and 
paintings, representing scenes from everyday life. There 
are hunting parties and boating and fishing scenes. The 
various trades are represented, showing the tools used. 
The farmer is at work, plowing and planting and rais- 


EGYPT. 


271 


ing water from the river or canal. Here are pictured 
exactly the same implements and contrivances that the 
Egyptian farmer uses to-day. The Egyptian artist 
aimed to represent real life. His ideal was truth not 
beauty. According to the Egyptian faith the soul will 
return to animate the body again. Hence, the care 
taken to preserve the body by embalmment and the con¬ 
struction of substantial tombs. But should the body 
by any chance be lost or destroyed, an exact image of it 
of wood or stone might serve as a substitute. Hence, 
a number of statues were usually made and placed in 
the tombs, and the sculptor was compelled to make them 
exact copies of the original. While these sculptures and 
paintings are not the products of a creative imagination 
they are all the more valuable to the historian. Thus 
we find on the ancient monuments of Egypt the various 
races with which she came in contact represented. There 
is the light European, the ruddy Babylonian, the dusky 
Nubian, and the black African. No truer representa¬ 
tion of the Negro race could be made to-day. This 
would indicate that the differentiation of the races took 
place before the time of Abraham, and that since that 
time no perceptible changes have occurred. 

One of the most interesting places to visit here is the 
Apis Mausoleum. It is an immense gallery of rock-cut 
tombs, the entire length measuring about 2000 feet. The 
whole is shrouded in Egyptian darkness, and you have 
to carry your light with you. On either side of the 
immense halls are arched alcoves in which the sarcophagi 
of the sacred bulls were placed. These sarcophagi, or 
coffins, containing the mummies of the sacred bulls, were 
cut out of a single block of granite or limestone, each 


272 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


one weighing about G5 tons. The granite was quarried 
at Syene near the First Cataract, floated down the Nile, 
transported across the plain and up into the desert, and 
finally with its sacred mummy placed in its appointed 
alcove. We are not surprised to learn that the funeral 
of a sacred bull would at times cost 100,000 dollars. 
There were sixty-four Apis bulls buried in these halls. 
Twenty-four sarcophagi are still in their places. This 
strange burying place was discovered and explored by 
Mariette about sixty years ago. 

Some distance south lie the Pyramids of Dashur, the 
fifth group in the series. Though they lie only a 
short distance from Sakkara, they are seldom visited by 
tourists as there is little new to be seen there. Some 
of the pyramids of the group were built by kings of the 
Third Dynasty and are, accordingly, among the oldest 
of the pyramids, others were built by kings of the 
Twelfth Dynasty, when pyramid building was passing 
away. The two extremes therefore meet at this point. 

The afternoon was wearing away and we had a long 
road before us. We were anxious to return to the Mena 
House before darkness should set in. On our lonely 
way back, we had a chance to get acquainted with our 
donkey boys and camel driver. The Egyptians are not 
a vicious or cruel people. They are affectionate in their 
disposition and simple in their ways. The Mohammedan 
religion, which allows polygamy, is one of the worst 
evils to which they have been subjected. Dragomans, 
donkey boys, and camel drivers depend almost wholly 
upon tourists and travelers for a living. They are very 
shrewd and know how to adapt themselves to their cus¬ 
tomers. Said an American tourist to a donkey boy, 


EGYPT. 


273 


“Why did you tell me yesterday that your donkey was 
named George Washington and now you told that lady 
that his name was Tommy Atkins?” 

“Oh/” answered the boy, “she English, she no like 
George Washington.” 

We reached the Mena House as darkness was settling 
down over the desert and the Nile, just in time to see 
our Cairo car disappear along the embankment road. 
But there would be another in a half hour. It was nine 
o’clock when we reached our hotel in Cairo. We had 
had a strenuous day, but a most enjoyable one. 

We spent one day in the great museum of Egyptian 
antiquities in Cairo. It was formerly located in the 
little village of Gizeh on the west side of the river. It 
has lately been removed to its present magnificent quar¬ 
ters in Cairo near the great Nile bridge. To the student 
of ancient history this is one of the most interesting 
museums in the world. There are a number of rare an¬ 
tiquities which can be seen only here. Among the al¬ 
most endless collections gathered from the ancient tombs, 
is the recognized mummy of Bameses II, believed to be 
the pharaoh of the oppression, whose daughter adopted 
Moses. Here, too, is the mummy of his father Seti I. 
Both have been so well preserved that it has been said 
if their subjects of over 3200 years ago could arise and 
see the mummies they would recognize the features of 
their dread sovereigns. 

But it is useless to attempt to make even a list of the 
wonderful antiquities collected here. As you walk 
through this labyrinth of rooms and see the mummies of 
the men and women whose feet pressed this very soil 
ages ago, at the very dawn of history, and then see on 


274 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


every hand specimens of their handiwork and evidences 
of their high civilization, you are filled with a feeling 
of reverence for this wonderful people, and you begin to 
realize that, perhaps, the Egyptian priests were justified 
in their boast to the Greek philosopher: “You Greeks 



Entrance to the Nile Bridge. 






















276 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


are like children, talkative and vain; you know nothing 
at all of the past.” 

We took a trip one morning up the eastern side of the 
river past the ancient quarries to Helwan, a famous 
watering place. No sooner had we reached it, however, 
than a storm came up. The wind rose higher and high¬ 
er. Before long the air was filled with the finest of red¬ 
dish dust, the sun was obscured and your vision was 
limited to a few hundred feet around you. Your eyes 
seemed filled with grit and breathing was almost oppres¬ 
sive. We hurried to the station and took the first train 
back to Cairo. We hastened to our hotel and shut doors 
and windows to keep out the dust. We could not help 
wondering what we would have done if this storm had 
come up two days before when we were out in the desert. 
We learned afterwards that this storm stopped the traf¬ 
fic on the canal for two days. 

We left Cairo on Tuesday morning, March 16, and 
took the train for Alexandria. The distance is about 
130 miles, and the time required is three hours. Our 
route took us through the Delta across the Damietta 
and Bosetta arms of the Nile. Alexandria is a large 
commercial center with over 300,000 inhabitants. Its 
commercial importance has somewhat declined since the 
opening up of the Suez canal. It was at one time a chief 
seat of learning, containing the largest library in the 
world. During the early centuries of our era it was a 
celebrated center of theological learning. Since its fall 
into the hands of the Mohammedans, however, it has 
been known only for its commerce. 

It is beautifully located at the western end of the 
Delta between Lake Mareotis and the sea. The view of 



Pomyey's Pillar 






278 


GLIMPSES OF THKEE CONTINENTS. 


the old harbor where once stood the celebrated Pharos, 
or lighthouse, is most charming. There are but few 
places in Alexandria of any special interest to the average 
tourist. Every visitor to the place, however, wants to 
see the catacombs and the neighboring monument, 
known as Pompey’s Pillar. The latter is a red granite 
shaft with a Corinthian capital and a pedestal made of 
stones from different parts of Egypt, some bearing the 
names of kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It rises to a 
height of 99 fet. Though it bears the name of Pompey, 
it is in no way connected with him, for it was raised in 
honor of Diocletian, over 300 years after Pompey’s 
death. It is believed to occupy the site of the ancient 
Serapeum. 




CHAPTER XII. 

Athens. 

We stopped only a day at Alexandria and then took 
ship for Athens. The voyage required about forty 
hours. We passed by the eastern end of Crete, near 
enough to see the nature of the land. But the ancient 
Cyclades we passed during the night and so missed 
seeing them. We arrived in the beautiful harbor of 
Piraeus in the morning of Friday, March 19. 

Greece, like Egypt and the Holy Land, is a very small 
country, scarcely more than a dot on the map of the 
world. It is wonderful, however, that from these three 
little dots on the Mediterranean shores, representing the 
three ancient continents, radiated the civilization which 
is now being spread over all the earth. 

There is no other spot in the world associated with so 
much romance, poetry, and song as are the sunlit hills 
and valleys of Hellas. It might be interesting, indeed, 
to give a description of this beautiful land with its clear 
blue sky and sea, its green hills and valleys, its precipi¬ 
tous cliffs and mountains, and its transparent atmos¬ 
phere, which gives to the Greek landscape a clearer out¬ 
line than may be seen anywhere else in the world. This, 
however, I shall not attempt to do in these brief para¬ 
graphs. 


280 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



Like ancient Athens, the modern city lies four and 
one-half miles from the port city of Piraeus. Between 
the two cities there is an excellent car service. But the 
most interesting way of reaching Athens is by a carriage 
drive. There is an excellent road, and before you is 
spread out the most charming Attic scenery, with the 
Acropolis and the still higher Lycabettus always in 
sight. You approach the Acropolis on the south side, 
pass along its eastern end, and enter the city proper. 

Athens is largely a modern city. It is only in its 
older sections that it presents the narrow and crooked 
streets and other Oriental features. It has a number of 
beautiful structures, among which may be mentioned 
the Royal Palace, the University, the Library, and the 


The Royal Palace, Athens. 











Glimpses of three Continents . 19 


Athens with Lycabettus in the Background. 








282 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


National Museum. It is, however, its historic associa¬ 
tions and classical monuments that give to Athens its 
peculiar charms. 

I shall not attempt in these few paragraphs to describe 
the many objects of classic fame that we saw. I shall 
only name a few of them. The center of interest is the 
Acropolis. It is the first object to arrest the attention 
of the visitor as he approaches the city, and upon it his 
last lingering look will dwell as he sails out of the 
harbor. Taking one’s stand upon this hill one sees to 
the westward the bay of Phalerum, the harbor of 
Piraeus, and the islands of Aegina and Salamis; to the 
north rise the Parnes mountains; to the east the lofty 
Pentelicus, celebrated for its marble; and to the south 



The Acropolis. 








ATHENS. 


283 



the purple-tinted Hymettus. Within this natural am¬ 
phitheater we have one of the most celebrated historic 
spots in the world. 

But this was the outer circle. Taking a nearer view, 
one sees to the west the Museum Hill with the Prison 
of Socrates at its base, Pnyx Hill with its artificial ter¬ 
races, rock-cut steps, and the Bema, from which Pericles 
delivered his famous orations to the Athenian democ¬ 
racy, and finally the Nymphs’ Hill with the Temple of 
Theseus near its base, the best preserved of all Greek 
temples; to the north and northeast lies the modern city 


The Prison of Socrates. 










284 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


of Athens, stretching northward beyond the ancient 
Academy where Plato taught; to the east rises the hill 
and cliff of Lycabettus to a height of over 900 feet with 
the Lyceum of Aristotle at its southern base; to the 
southeast is the hill of Ardettos, on the U-shaped slopes 
of which the ancient Stadion was constructed, and on 
which the modern Stadion has recently been built. 

Taking a still closer range one sees to the west the 
bald rock separated from the Acropolis by a slight de¬ 
pression and known as the Areopagos or Mars’ Hill, 
where St. Paul addressed the Athenians as recorded in 
the 17th chapter of Acts; to the north the remains of 
an old Roman Forum, the Tower of the Winds, and 
other ancient remains; to the east the Royal Palace and 
gardens, the Temple of Jupiter, the Arch of Hadrian, 
and the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates; to the south¬ 
east the remains of the Theater of Dionysus; and to the 



The Stadion, Athens. 











ATHENS. 


285 


southwest the Odeum of Herod Atticus, which lias lately 
been excavated. 

The Acropolis itself is ascended at the west end, 
where much of the ancient Propylaea still remains. As 
you reach the top you see to your right the beautiful 
Temple of Nike Apteros, or Wingless Victory, which 
was reconstructed out of old materials some 75 years 
ago. The top is smooth and almost level, strewn with 
remains of the wonderful structures that formerly 
adorned this celebrated place. On the north side is the 
Erechtheion with the porch of the Caryatides now un¬ 
der process of reconstruction. But the crown and glory 
of the Acropolis was the Parthenon, or Temple of 
Athena. It has always been regarded as the finest speci¬ 
men of Greek architecture, and even in its present shorn 
and ruined condition it excites the wonder and admira¬ 
tion of the world. The Turks used it, at one time, as 
a powder magazine, and an explosion, occurring in 1687, 
nearly destroyed it. Near the beginning of last century 
Lord Elgin still further added to its ruin by robbing it 
of its sculptures, which he carried to the British 
Museum. 

An excursion to Corinth consumed one day. The 
train leaves Athens at seven in the morning and reaches 
Corinth in three hours. It runs due north from Athens 
to the Parnes Mountains, then west between two ridges 
to Eleusis, where the remains of an old temple of 
Demeter may still be seen. It was here the Eleusinian 
Mysteries were celebrated every year. Opposite is the 
Bay of Salamis where the great battle was fought be¬ 
tween the Greeks and Persians in 480 B. C. Leaving 
Eleusis we pass through Megara and in another hour 


286 


GLTMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



we reach the Corinthian Canal. The isthmus at this 
point is about two miles in width. The canal runs 
straight across it. Fortunately the high mountains both 
east and west break here so that the cost of digging the 
canal was comparatively small. The canal, however, is 
not wide enough for large ships to pass. Near the 
northern end of it is the modern town of Corinth. It 
is a place of no special interest. 

About four miles to the west of it is the site of old 
Corinth. The city was beautifully located on a high 
plain sloping northward toward the Corinthian Gulf. 
Behind it was the citadel rising many hundred feet 
above the plain. The view from old Corinth is one of 
the finest in Greece. Before you lies the fertile plain 
of Corinth, where you see hundreds of laborers, men, 
women, and children, at work pruning vines and culti- 


The Corinthian Canal. 



ATHENS. 


287 


vating the ground; and on the hillsides near by, here 
and there, a shepherd boy or girl is seen with a flock of 
sheep and goats. Beyond the plain is the blue and 
placid Corinthian Gulf. Near the northern horizon 
rises old Mount Helicon, hoary with frost and snow, 
and to the northwest in the distant haze, may be seen 
the ancient home of the Muses, the lofty Parnassus. 
Most interesting excavations have recently been made 
in old Corinth by the Americans. 

We spent a most enjoyable week in the midst of these 
classical environments. Hitherto our travels had been 
mainly in heathen or Mohammedan lands. We found 
here a different social and spiritual atmosphere. This 
difference was noticeable even at the hotels. Nowhere 
did we receive more efficient service or more courteous 
treatment than here, and that without any apparent 
desire for “bakshish’* or “tips.” 

One day our hotel porter informed us that another 
American had been stopping at the same hotel for a long 
time. We asked to see his name and found it to be 
Sven Oftedahl. Though we knew Professor Oftedahl 
very well by reputation, we had never had the pleasure 
of forming his acquaintance, and a meeting with him 
here, far away from home, was most enjoyable indeed. 
We were sorry to hear afterwards that this scholarly 
man died shortly after his return to America. 

A large batch of mail forwarded from Eajahmundry 
and Port Said reached us at this place. It was now 
that w r e heard of the death of Hr. P. Sjoblom, of the 
serious illness of Mrs. N. Forsander, and of the gift to 
Augustana College of a library building by the heirs of 
Mr. and Mrs. F. C. A. Denkmann. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Constantinople and Batoum. 

While still in Tndia and afterwards at Port Said, I 
had written our missionary in Urmia, Persia, Rev. Jo¬ 
seph Knanisliu, to meet us at Batoum about April 1. 
It was now March 25, and, therefore, high time for us 
to continue our travels. At four o’clock in the afternoon 
of Thursday of the above date, we boarded the Therapia, 
of the North German Lloyd Line, in the harbor of 
Piraeus, for Batoum at the eastern end of the Black 
Sea. Our course took us around the southern point of 
Attica, past the island of Ceos, and between Andros and 
Euboea. We crossed the Aegean S'ea during the night 
and the next morning at sunrise, we reached the beau¬ 
tiful island of Chios, one of the claimants of the honor 
of being Homer’s birthplace. A few hours- more brought 
us into the Gulf of Smyrna, one of the finest and most 
beautiful harbors in the world. 

We spent in all two days at this place, one on the out¬ 
going trip and one on the return. The gulf is sur¬ 
rounded on three sides by high mountains, which slope 
toward the sea, forming a grand amphitheater. At the 
eastern end of the gulf lies the ancient city of Smyrna, 
celebrated as the location of one of the seven churches 


CONSTANTINOPLE AND BATOUM. 


289 



of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Of these 
seven cities Smyrna is the only one that remains to this 
day. It is a large and prosperous city of a quarter of a 
million inhabitants, of whom one-half are Greeks, one- 
fourth Mohammedans, and the rest Jews, Armenians, 
and Western Europeans. 

Smyrna is the second seaport of the Turkish Empire. 
Nearly all the trade of Asia Minor centers here. It is 
connected with all parts of the interior by caravan 
routes. A railroad connects it with Constantinople. This 
road extends far into the interior, and the Germans, who 
are tightening their grip on Asia Minor and Syria, are 


View of Smyrna. 










290 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


planning to extend it down the Euphrates valley to the 
Persian Gulf. This enterprise would materially shorten 
the route to India and open up to civilization one of the 
most fertile regions on the globe. 

We took a stroll through the city and climbed to the 
top of Mount Pagus, where there are massive ruins of 
an old Roman fort. From this elevated point we had 
a beautiful view of the city and the gulf. Eastward is 
the valley of the Meles, along the banks of which stream, 
it has been claimed, Homer composed his poems. South¬ 
ward toward Ephesus extends a lovely, open country as 
far as the eye can see. 

Descending the mountain we passed the site of the 
ancient stadium, the outlines of which can easily be 
traced to this day. Here is the Memorial Tomb of Poly¬ 
carp, marked by two tall cypresses, which are clearly 
seen from the harbor and are pointed out to all visitors. 

We sailed out of the harbor at Smyrna at six o’clock 
in the evening, and when we rose the next morning we 
found that we were sailing through the long and narrow 
strait between Europe and Asia known in ancient times 
as the Hellespont and to-day as the Dardanelles. Next 
came the beautiful Sea of Marmora, and at five o’clock 
in the afternoon we tied up at the pier at Constantinople 
where we were to remain two days. 

On our trip across the Atlantic from New York to 
Naples, the previous fall, we had formed the acquaint¬ 
ance of an Armenian Christian, a native of Constanti¬ 
nople, who had spent many years in western Europe and 
America and who spoke English fluently. He was on 
his way home to visit his parents and brothers and sis¬ 
ters. He told us that if we ever came to Constantinople 



St. Sophia. 

















292 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


to be sure to let him know and lie would be glad to meet 
us and show us the city. We did so, and on the morning 
after our arrival he met us on board our steamer and 
for two days served us as escort in this great Moham¬ 
medan city, with which he was thoroughly acquainted. 

He knew not only what was worth seeing, but also 
the shortest and quickest way to see it. He also took us 
to his home where we met his people and had a chance to 
see the interior of an Armenian home in Constantinople. 

Many changes had bceured in the city since the grant¬ 
ing of the constitution a short time before. A foreigner 
could now land and go anywhere he pleased throughout 
the city without a passport. Electric lights and tele¬ 
phones, which the S'ultan had formerly forbidden, were 
coming into use. But matters were in a very unsettled 
condition throughout the city and empire. Two sets of 
soldiers were seen on the streets and in public places— 
those of the old and those of the new regime—and civil 
war seemed ready to break out at any moment. 

One of the most interesting sights to the transient vis¬ 
itor at Constantinople is no doubt the Mosque of St. 
Sophia. It was formerly a Christian church, built origi¬ 
nally by Constantine the Great, but having been de¬ 
stroyed by fire, it was rebuilt on a more magnificent 
scale by the great Emperor Justinian, and dedicated by 
him in the year 538. Like St. Peter’s it is built in the 
form of a Latin cross. It is, however, only half as long 
as St. Peter’s and does not cover half as much ground. 
It is built of brick and lined with colored marble. It 
has a number of beautiful columns of green jasper, some 
of which were taken from the temple of Diana at Ephe¬ 
sus. When the Turkish Sultan, Mohammed II, took 



The Dogs in Constantinople. 
















294 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Constantinople, in 1453, he converted this Christian 
church into a Mohammedan mosque. The cross over the 
dome was removed and replaced by the crescent. The 
time may not be far distant when this beautiful struc¬ 
ture shall again become a Christian church. 

In this vicinity are the celebrated Museum and Art 
Gallery, the ancient Hippodrome, the Egyptian obelisk, 
the serpentine column from Delphi, the Constantine 
monument, and the fountain erected by Kaiser William 
to commemorate his visit to Constantinople. 

One of the most peculiar institutions of Constantino¬ 
ple is the great bazar. It is a city in itself, covering 
many acres, surrounded by walls, and covered over. It 
is a perfect labyrinth of streets and booths and shops. 
All imaginable articles are kept for sale here—food, 
dress, ornaments, drugs, utensils, etc. It is light and 
comparatively clean. Portable fire extinguishers are 
placed here and there throughout the place. At night 
the gates are securely locked and special watchmen are 
kept for additional security. 

The streets of Constantinople are dirty and poorly 
paved. The main scavengers of the city are the dogs. 
There are thousands and thousands of them. They have 
no particular owners, but belong to the city as a. whole. 
They take care of themselves winter and summer. Their 
food they find in the streets, where they pick up any¬ 
thing that happens to be thrown out. They have divided 
themselves into groups, each group occupying a definite 
part of the city. A stray dog of another group is quick¬ 
ly driven back by the dogs to his own quarter. They are 
quiet and harmless, but will not get out of your way if 
they stand in your path; you have to walk around them. 



Galata-Pera and the Bridge across the Golden Horn. 























296 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



The waters divide the city into three parts. On the 
Asiatic side of the Bosporus is Scutari, on the European 
side Stamboul and Galata-Pera. The two latter are sep- 


The Fire Tower. 







CONSTANTINOPLE AND BATOUM 


297 



arated by an arm of the sea, known as the Golden Horn, 
and are connected by two bridges supported on floating 
piers securely anchored. Galata-Pera is the foreign 
quarters of the city and contains a number of fine busi¬ 
ness places and most of the foreign embassies. It is 
built on rising ground, and many of the streets are quite 


A Hamak or carrier. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 20. 





I 


* 


298 GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 

steep. On the highest point is built the great Galata 
Tower as a lookout for fires in the city. From its lofty 
top you have one of the most beautiful and inspiring 
sights in the world. To the north is the winding Bos¬ 
porus, to the east the verdant hills of Asia, to the south 
the beautiful Sea of Marmora, and to the west the vine- 
clad hills of European Turkey. At your feet lies the 
great city with its silvery borders and forests of minarets 
rising from its three.hundred mosques. 

The harbor is one of the finest in the world, and its 
miles of wharves present a busy and picturesque view. 
Among the new and strange sights are the hundreds of 
hungry dogs watching for something to eat and the 
thousands of hamals, or carriers, with saddles on their 
backs, wending their ways hither and thither under 
their heavy loads. 

The passage of the Bosporus is regarded as one of the 
most picturesque sailings in the world. It is but eleven 
or twelve miles in length. Noted places line the banks 
on either side. The most interesting are, perhaps, the 
palace of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the ruins of the 
mighty castle of Ramili-Hissar, and Robert College. As 
day was fading into twilight, we sailed into the deep blue 
waters of the Black Sea. At noon the next day we passed 
the site of the ancient city of Sinope, and in another 
twenty-four hours the snow-capped peaks of the Cauca¬ 
sus rose majestically before us. At one o’clock in the af¬ 
ternoon of Wednesday, March 31, we reached Batoum at 
the eastern end of the Black Sea, the ancient land of 
Colchis. 

As soon as we anchored in the harbor, Russian officials 
took possession of the vessel for about four hours. Every 





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300 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


person’s passport was carefully examined and only those 
provided with passports were to be landed. It happened 
that one of the passengers had failed to provide himself 
with a passport. A consultation was held, and one of the 
ship’s officers informed us that as the passenger in ques¬ 
tion looked so stupid the officials regarded him as harm¬ 
less and decided to let him pass. After the examination 
of the passports came the inspection of the baggage. This 
was far less searching-than we had expected. A Russian 
military officer from Odessa, who had been a fellow pas¬ 
senger on this voyage and who spoke English fluently, 
furnished us with a great deal of useful information 
about traveling in Russia and also assis^d us now in the 
passing of customs. 

While we were thus waiting for permission to land we 
kept a close watch of the people on shore, hoping to see 
the face of our missionary in Persia, the Rev. Joseph 
Knanishu, for we had written him to meet us here about 
April 1st, and it was now the 31st of March. We looked 
in vain, however, as the sequel will show. It was almost, 
dusk when we were finally permitted to land. We drove 
to the Hotel de France where we decided to stop during 
our stay in Batoum. 

The next morning we went to see the American con¬ 
sul, Mr. Heingartner of Ohio, whom we had met on 
board our steamer the day before. We told him our 
errand and asked him whether it would be safe for us 
to make the trip to Urmia, Persia, at that time. As 
he had but lately arrived at his post, he was not very 
well acquainted with the conditions of the country and 
desired to consult the English consul and the American 
vice consul before giving his opinion. We were invited 






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Entrance to the Black Sea. 













302 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


to call again the next day. This we did, and the answer 
we received was that it would be impossible to make the 
trip to Urmia at that time, as the country was in a state 
of civil war, and even the soldiers had turned brigands 
and were murdering and plundering everybody that ven¬ 
tured across the border. The opinion of the English 
consul was that if we attempted it, the probability was 
that we would never come back. 

Under such circumstances it was not advisable for us 
to proceed any further. There was nothing for us to 
do but to await developments. In the meantime we 
kept looking for Eev. Knanishu and wrote to him day 
after day, for we thought that if one letter should mis¬ 
carry another might reach him. On Friday, April 2, 
I sent him a telegram, asking whether he could meet us 
or not. All day Saturday we waited for a reply. A 
little after midnight we were aroused from sleep by a 
pounding at our door. A messenger boy handed me a 
telegram, in French, informing me that my telegram 
had reached Tabriz, but could get no further as the 
wires were down. It would be forwarded as soon as 
connections were restored. We learned later that after 
six weeks the telegram finally reached Urmia. 

In the meantime we had ample opportunity to study 
Eussian life in this corner of the great empire. We 
were in the midst of some of the oldest abodes of our 
race. Only a short distance to the southeast is Mount 
Ararat, where the ark rested. The place, too, is noted 
in Greek mythology. Here Prometheus was bound, and 
hither came Jason of the Argonautic Expedition in 
quest of the golden fleece. Near Batoum is a stream 
known as the Tschoroch, which, it is claimed, still “rolls 



Types of the Caucasus 













304 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


down its golden sand.” The inhabitants along its banks 
place sheepskins in the bed of the stream, and the gold 
dust settles in the curly wool. Thus the country is a 
land of golden fleece even to-day. 

The Caucasus Mountains present some of the grand¬ 
est scenery in Europe, but owing' to the lawless condi¬ 
tion of the country they have never been a resort for 
tourists. Mount Elbruz, which is within sight of Ba- 
toum, is more than half a mile higher than the highest 
of the Alps. These mountain regions are inhabited by 
various tribes, of whom the Georgians are the best 
known. As they were regarded as the most typical of 
the white race, Blumenbach applied the name Caucasian 
to this entire division of the human family. The 
Georgians are a bold and warlike race, passionately fond 
of arms. It is not uncommon to find a Georgian carry¬ 
ing a sword, a dagger, a rifle, and half a dozen or more 
pistols on his person. The women are noted for their 
beauty. The men are tall and well built. They usually 
wear boots with tops reaching above the knee, tight- 
fitting coats with wide skirts reaching almost to the 
ankles, and heavy turbans, usually made of several yards 
of cloth, on their heads. 

A railway line, running through Tiflis, connects 
Baku on the Caspian with Batoum on the Black Sea, 
thus making the latter one of the important ports of 
the Russian Empire. Among the chief exports are 
petroleum and timber, especially Circassian walnut. The 
vine is extensively cultivated and large quantities of 
wine are produced. It is put up in skin bottles or 
tanks made of the entire skins of various animals, 
especially of the ox. The large wholesale places con- 



A Georgian Soldier 



















306 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



tain scores of these immense wine skins, some of them 
holding 500 gallons apiece. 

Horses and oxen are used as beasts of burden. The 
water buffalo of the same type as we saw in India are 
also common. 

Batoum formed a part of the Turkish Empire until 
1878, when by the Treaty of Berlin it was ceded to 
Russia. During the disturbances in southern Russia 
shortly before our arrival, the turbulent mountain tribes 
made the country almost uninhabitable. It was still 
under martial law at the time of our visit. Soldiers 
armed to the teeth could be seen at almost every street 
corner. It was a disagreeable sight to us, but we real¬ 
ized that without these soldiers our lives would not be 
safe very long. The half barbarous Georgians from the 


Wine skins taken to the market. 







CONSTANTINOPLE AND BATOUM 


307 


mountains, armed with guns, swords, and daggers, could 
be seen everywhere on the streets. They had little re¬ 
gard for human life. No one dared to go into the 
mountains without military escort. Murder and kid¬ 
napping were said to be very common. 



The Russian Cathedral at Batoum. 













308 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


The city presents some Oriental features. The streets 
are straight, however, and run at right angles. They 
are paved with cobblestones. There are no streets cars. 
Among the noted buildings in the city is a large and 
beautiful Russian Cathedral. There are also two Arme¬ 
nian churches, two Russian churches, one Roman Cath¬ 
olic church, a German Lutheran chapel, and two Mo¬ 
hammedan mosques. There is little of interest to see 
in the town. A lovely boulevard along the seashore is 
the only handsome walk in the place. The surround¬ 
ings, however, are very beautiful. The wild and rugged 
Caucasus eAend almost to the sea, leaving a narrow 
level tract upon which the city is built. Though Batoum 
is in the same latitude as Chicago, there is rarely ever 
any frost. Green grass and flowers and growing vegeta¬ 
bles may be seen at all seasons of the year. It is a place 
of many peoples and languages. Besides Russian, 
Turkish, Georgian, Armenian, and various other Asiatic 
tongues, German and French are spoken. English is 
little used. 

After waiting nearly three weeks at this place, and 
finding that it was impossible at that time to make a 
trip to Persia, we concluded to return to southern and 
western Europe for a while and later in the summer, 
if opportunity offered, attempt the visit to Persia. It 
was with keen feelings of disappointment and sadness 
that we turned our faces westward and left our mission 
unfinished. We had been sent to inspect our work in 
Persia, and this we found impossible for us to accom¬ 
plish. Then, too, we felt deeply concerned for our mis¬ 
sionaries in Urmia in the midst of sieges and civil war. 
The worst we had not learned. 


CONSTANTINOPLE AND BATOUM 


309 


It was in the afternoon of April 17 that we boarded 
the Sachsen of the North German Lloyd line for Genoa, 
Italy, a voyage of nearly two weeks. At six o’clock in 
the evening we sailed out of the harbor of Batoum, and 
in the morning of the next day we anchored in the har¬ 
bor of Trebizond. This is after Odessa and Batoum the 
most important port on the Black Sea. It is an ancient 
city, founded by the Greeks of Sinope in the eighth cen¬ 
tury before Christ. It was at this point that the Ten 
Thousand under Xenophon reached the sea. We spent 
a day at this place, walked through the city, and 
climbed to the top of the heights on the south side. 
From this high elevation we had a magnificent view of 
the sea, the city, and the surrounding country. To the 
east and southeast is an immense background of snow¬ 
capped mountains. Like all other cities of Asia Minor 
Trebizond is a very Babel of peoples and languages— 
Turks, Greeks, Armenians, and many others. 

As the sun sank into the western waves we sailed 
away from Trebizond, and early the next morning an¬ 
chored again for the day, this time at Samsoun. Here 
as at other places on our route along the shores of Asia 
Minor, the natives literally took possession of the vessel 
as soon as we had anchored. They ransacked every nook 
and corner of it. All staterooms had to be kept locked. 
The Germans humor the people in this way in order to 
fasten their hold upon the land. For the same reason 
'the German government subsidizes the steamship line, 
thus enabling it to carry on this regular traffic. 

Our next stop was at Ineboli, a city in what was once 
northern Cappadocia. Here we spent only six hours, 
and on Wednesday morning, April 21, entered once more 





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Types of Trebizond 








CONSTANTINOPLE AND BATOUM 


311 


the lovely waters of the Bosporus. The sunlit hills on 
either side were indescribably fresh and beautiful in the 
early spring morning. 

At about nine o’clock we tied up again at the pier in 
the Golden Horn. We spent another two days at this 
place. It was just four weeks since we had first arrived 
there. Now everything seemed changed. Few people 
were seen on the streets. Most of our passengers re¬ 
mained on board our steamer. The city was in the 
midst of a great revolution. Forty thousand soldiers 
surrounded it, and more were approaching. No trains 
entered the place, but the water way was open. The 
city resembled a great powder magazine which only re¬ 
quired a small spark to cause a great conflagration. 
Everybody seemed to expect that at any moment a great 
civil war would break out in the streets of the city. 
But nothing of the kind happened. All was quiet and 
peaceful. In the meantime, however, the old Sultan, 
Abdul Hamid II, was deposed, and his younger brother, 
Mohammed V, was raised to the throne. A great revo¬ 
lution was accomplished practically without bloodshed. 
The success of the undertaking and the masterful way 
in which it was carried out gave us a greater respect 
for the ability and self-control of the Turks than we 
had ever had before. 




CHAPTER XIY. 

Italy. 

It was in the midst of these great events that we sailed 
away one evening from Constantinople. The next mor¬ 
ning we were sailing through the narrow waters of the 
Hellespont, having on our left hand the mountains and 
hills of Asia and the site of ancient Troy. We passed 
the point of Troas, where Paul saw the vision of the 
man of Macedonia, and then along the eastern side of 
the Island of Mytilene, and about noon reached the Bay 
of Smyrna once more. Here we stopped a day and a 
half. It was on this occasion that we made our trip 
through the city, climbed to the top of Mount Pagus, 
and visited the Memorial Tomb of Polycarp, as has al¬ 
ready been related. If we had fully realized the dis¬ 
turbed condition of the Empire and had known of the 
massacres that were taking place in Asia Minor at that 
time, we would perhaps have hesitated to make these 
trips in and around the city without either guide or 
escort. 

On Saturday evening as the setting sun was gilding 
the lofty mountains around the city and bay of Smyrna 
we sailed away. We crossed the Aegean during the night 
and about 10 o’clock the next morning anchored again 


ITALY. 


313 


in the harbor of Piraeus. We spent the day on board 
our vessel, except that I took the interurban to Athens 
to get our mail. 

Leaving Athens, we passed the islands of Salamis and 
Aegina and the eastern point of Argolis and the next 
morning doubled the southern point of ancient Lacedae¬ 
mon. The snowy peaks of Taygetus loomed high and 
beautiful and were visible a long while. When they 
finally passed out of sight we saw nothing but sky and 
water until Tuesday morning when the southern point 
of Italy appeared to the right and the coasts of Sicily in 
front, with the snowy slopes and smoking summit of 
Mount Etna in full view. 



Catania and Mount Etna. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 21. 









314 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


We soon anchored in the harbor of Catania at the foot 
of Mount Etna. The Therapia on which we had sailed 
from Athens to Batoum and which was now on another 
out-going trip anchored in the harbor about the same 
time. The Therapia's physician hearing that we were on 
board the Sachsen came to pay us a visit. He spent the 
afternoon with us and took us around to see the place. 

Catania is a city of about 150,000 inhabitants. After 
the destruction of Messina it assumed much of the busi¬ 
ness of the latter place, and many of the refugees from 
the doomed city fled hither. It is an old Greek colony, 
dating from the eighth century before Christ, and re¬ 
mains of the ancient Greek civilization may still be seen. 

The view of Mount Etna as you sail northward along 
the coast from Catania is one of the most imposing 
sights on all the Mediterranean shores. The immense 
smoking pile rises to a height of 10,867 feet almost from 
the water’s edge. The Cyclopean rocks and islets along 
the coast also add beauty and romance to the scene. 

To please their passengers, ships had made it a prac¬ 
tice to call at Messina to afford a chance to see the ruins. 
A pestilence, however, had recently broken out there, 
and the practice had been discontinued. We according¬ 
ly did not call there, and our next stopping place was 
Naples where we arrived about noon on Wednesday, 
April 28. On our outgoing trip the previous November, 
we had made a stop of sixteen days at this place and had 
had a chance to see the city and its surroundings and to 
make excursions from there. 

Naples is the largest city in Italy, containing a popu¬ 
lation of about six hundred thousand. It is the gateway 
to the East and presents many Oriental features. The 


ITALY. 


315 


narrow, crooked, and irregular streets, the indescribable 
filth, the numerous beggars and cripples on every hand 
—all afford you a foretaste of the Orient. It is compact¬ 
ly built and covers a comparatively small area. It is 
beautifully located on the Bay of Naples. To the south 
is the picturesque peninsula of Sorrento and the cel¬ 
ebrated island of Capri; to the west the Bay of Baia and 
the site of ancient Puteoli, where St. Paul landed a pris¬ 
oner in the year 61; to the southeast Mount Vesuvius, 
Pompeii, and Herculaneum. 

It is a city of contrasts and incongruities. Here you 
find wealth and poverty, beauty and ugliness, art and 
deformity huddled together in one place. The rarest 
works of art are at times found in the midst of filth that 



Naples and Vesuvius. 










316 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


cannot be named. Among the interesting places to 
visit are the Tomb of Vergil, the Palazzo Reale, the Villa 
Nazionale, a public park, the Castel Nuovo, an old 
mediaeval castle, and the Castel Sant 5 Elmo, the highest 
point in the place, from which the best views of the city 
and its surroundings may be had. There are also a 
large number of old cathedrals, or duomos, which are 
well worth visiting. Then, too, there are a number of 
modern structures of great architectural beauty. 

One of the most instructive things to visit in Naples, 
however, is the National Museum. Its collections from 
the neighboring Pompeii and Herculaneum are the fin¬ 
est in the world. Here are found beautiful mosaics, 
pictures and paintings, statuary, household utensils, or¬ 
naments, rings, bracelets, gold and silver ware, coins, 
articles of food, fruits, grains, bread and spices—all 
buried in the lava of Vesuvius over eighteen hundred 
years ago and recently excavated. 

We spent a day at Pompeii. The excavations are truly 
remarkable. You can walk the streets of the ancient 
and dead city, among the ruined houses and temples, 
theaters and bath, as you would in a city of to-day. The 
houses were built of brick and covered with stucco and 
ornamented as the houses are in Naples to-day. In the 
vestibule of the “House of the Tragic Poet” is a beauti¬ 
ful mosaic of a dog with the inscription Cave Canem 
(Beware of the dog) in a most perfect state of preserva¬ 
tion. Some of the houses remain almost intact, others 
have fared worse, only the walls remain. The mural 
paintings in many places are wonderfully bright and 
clear. Most of them represent scenes from the Greek 
and Latin poets, or rather from mythology. The streets 


ITALY. 


317 



are all paved with irregular, flat, black stones. The 
sidewalks are about four or five feet wide and laid with 
brick or smooth stones. The houses are built to the side¬ 
walk line. At street crossings are stepping stones about 
twenty inches apart. The sidewalks are elevated about a 
foot above the streets. Deep ruts have been worn by the 
wheels in the paved streets. 

The people at the time of the catastrophe, which oc¬ 
curred in the year 79, seem to have received a warning 
of the coming danger so that most of them escaped. A 
few perished in their homes and in the city. In the 


A street in Pompeii. 





318 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


museum at Pompeii are preserved a number of bodies, 
which have been found in the ruins. The work of ex¬ 
cavating is still going on, for all of the city has not yet 
been cleared of the superimposed lava and earth. 

Pompeii lies fifteen miles southeast of Naples, on the 
opposite side of Vesuvius, and several miles from the 
foot of the mountain. 

We also made an excursion to Pome. The distance is 
155 miles, and the time required about four hours. Our 
first course ran through the fertile plains of Campania. 
The country is beautifully cultivated and every available 
spot is used. Men, women, and children were at work 
planting and cultivating although it was November, for 
while Naples lies in the same latitude as New York it is 
free from frost the year around. No horses were seen 
in the fields. White or gray oxen with long, wide- 
spreading horns were used. The crudest implements 
were employed, even the wooden plow. 

The Apennines are very rugged. Excepting at the 
foot or lower slopes they are bare and rocky and often of 
a whitish color, resembling snow in the distance. Among 
the intresting places along the line are Monte Casino 
with the Monastery of St. Benedict and Monte Aquino, 
the birthplace.of Juvenal and Thomas Aquinas. You 
enter Pome from the south along the Appian Way, 
where traces of ancient tombs and the Claudian Aque¬ 
duct may still be seen. 

In many respects Rome is the most remarkable city in 
the world. No other city, ancient or modern, has con¬ 
trolled the destinies of so many millions of people nor 
ruled so extensive an empire for so long a period of time. 
One seventh of the human family still look upon it as 


ITALY. 


319 


the holy city and the seat of the highest authority on 
earth. 

Rome should be studied in three aspects: as an an¬ 
cient, a mediaeval, and a modern city. As a modern 
city it is of less importance to the tourist. It numbers 
over half a million people, is the capital of Italy, and 
contains the royal palace and many other splendid build¬ 
ings. It has some beautiful parks and lovely drives, well 
paved streets, and many fine business places. But in 
these respects it is surpassed by many other cities. 



The Appian Way. 







320 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


As a mediaeval city, however, Rome is exceedingly 
rich, especially in its churches, or basilicas. There are, 
it is said, no less than 366 churches in Rome, one for 
each day in the year. They are nearly all built in the 
same style, that is in the form of the Latin cross. They 
have a mediaeval air about them, and most of them are 
musty and murky. There are naves, and aisles, and tran¬ 
septs, and pillars, and paintings, and statuary, and con¬ 
fessional boxes, and altars lighted up with wax candles, 
but as a rule there are no pews. Movable chairs are 
provided when occasion requires them. 

The most noted of these churches are the seven so- 
called Pilgrimage Churches. These are St. Peter’s on 
the Vatican Hill, St. John’s in the Lateran, St. Paul’s 
without the walls of the city, Santa Maria Maggiore 
near the center of the city, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme 
near the Lateran, San Lorenzo, and S'an Sebastiano, both 
outside the walls. 

Of all these St. Peter’s is by far the most celebrated. 
According to tradition the first church of St. Peter was 
a mere chapel, built by an early bishop in the year 90 
on the site of Nero’s circus, where St. Peter is said to 
have been buried. Afterwards Constantine the Great 
built a basilica there. This was the St. Peter’s in which 
Charlemagne was crowned emperor in the year 800. 
In the course of centuries the church fell into decay. 
It was rebuilt at the opening of the modern age, the 
chief architects being Bramante and Michael Angelo. 

It is the largest church in the world, covering an 
area of nearly four acres. Its outside is not beautiful 
to look upon, for everywhere it shows marks of age and 
decay, but it is imposing on account of its magnificent 



Santa Maria Maggiore 













































322 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


proportions. -The interior, however, is surpassingly 
beautiful when viewed as a whole. The dome with its 
wonderful paintings is the chief masterpiece. There 
are, however, many paintings and statues that should 
not be found in a Christian church or place of worship. 
The wicked and scandalous lives of some of the popes 
are painted in colors and sculptured in marble and dis¬ 
played in the aisles and niches of the church. Decep¬ 
tion and misrepresentation are also in evidence. A 
bronze statue of Jupiter is set up as a statue of St. 
Peter, and pious pilgrims have during the centuries 
been kissing the big toe of it till they have worn it half 
away. 

Connected with the basilica is the Vatican Palace, 
which has been the residence of the popes since their 
return from Avignon in 1377. It is the largest palace 
in the world and contains no less than 20 courts and 
about 1,100 halls, rooms, and chapels. Only a small 
part of it, however, is occupied by the pope. Hfere are 
the Vatican Library, Museum, and Art Galleries. Here, 
too, is the Sistine Chapel, containing two of Michael 
Angelo’s masterpieces, the Last Judgment and the 
Creation. In other apartments are the frescoes and 
tapestries of Raphael and other great painters. From 
the artist’s point of view these are said to be great mas¬ 
terpieces, which have never been surpassed. To the 
student of history they are interesting as showing the 
spirit and ideas of the Middle Ages and the Renais¬ 
sance. But at the same time it must be admitted that 
their conception is often based on error and misappre¬ 
hension, and that in their execution the artist has often 
been guilty of intentional misrepresentation, prejudice, 



St. Peter's. 





















324 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


and personal spite. To please a friend Raphael repre¬ 
sents Apollo as playing a violin instead of a lyre. For 
Leo III he paints Leo X and for Charlemagne Francis 
I. He puts mediaeval heads and faces on Greek philoso¬ 
phers and poets, and for the conflagration of the Borzo 
he paints the burning of Troy. Even Michael Angelo 
in his Last Judgment places Biagio of Cesena, the 
pope’s master of ceremonies, in hell for venturing to 
criticize his painting. 

The Church of St. John in the Lateran has always 
been regarded as the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, 
and, hence, ranks first of all the Catholic churches in 
the world. Adjoining it on the north side is the Lateran 
Palace, which served as the residence of the popes from 
the time of Constantine the Great to the removal of the 
papal seat to Avignon in 1309. It is now used as a 
museum and art gallery. Behind the church is an an¬ 
cient baptistery in which, the visitor is told, Constan¬ 
tine the Great was baptized. Near it in an open square 
stands the great Egyptian obelisk which has already 
been described. Like nearly every other ancient monu¬ 
ment in Rome, it has been surmounted with a cross. 

Adjacent to the church is a chapel in which may be 
seen the so-called Sacred Stairs, or Scala Santa, a flight 
of 28 marble steps, said to have belonged to Pilate’s 
palace in Jerusalem and to have been removed to Rome 
by the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine. 
As our Saviour ascended these steps when he was 
brought before Pilate, no one should ascend them now 
except on his bare knees. For centuries pious pilgrims 
have climbed these stairs on their knees as a holy and 
meritorious act, for which abundant indulgence is 



The Scala Santa. 











































326 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


granted. Even Martin Luther on his visit to Rome 
climbed these stairs, but that was before he had fully 
learned the great doctrine of Justification by Faith 
alone. 

We happened to be in Rome at the time of the Pope’s 
jubilee and found all the holy places filled with pilgrims 
from every part of the Catholic world. We saw them 
enter the chapel, dip their fingers in the holy water, and 
proceed to climb the stairs on their knees after the an¬ 
cient fashion. The stairway leading up to the second 
story, where there was a painting of the Crucifixion, 
was filled with climbing worshipers. Each one bent 
forward and kissed the step before him and then pro¬ 
ceeded to mount it on his knees. Thus the process 
went on from the first step to the last. Along the sides 
of the hall at the foot of the stairs were printed notices 
of the indulgence. As we witnessed this strange spec¬ 
tacle of mingled piety and superstition we were im¬ 
pressed more forcibly than ever before with what the 
world owes to Martin Luther. We beheld the strange 
spectacle with wonder and pity, but thanks to the faith 
and heroism of Martin Luther we did not climb. 

The third important basilica is that of St. Paul. It 
was erected in the fourth century on the spot where 
tradition says that St. Paul was buried. It is located 
some distance beyond the walls on the road leading to 
the port city at the mouth of the Tiber. The old 
structure was destroyed by fire in 1823 and the present 
edifice is almost entirely modern. It is still partly un¬ 
finished. 

From the Basilica of St. Paul we drove to the Cata¬ 
combs of St. Calixtus, the most remarkable of the early 



Trajan's Forum 






























328 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Christian burial places. During the later persecutions 
these catacombs also served as places of refuge for the 
Christians. These subterranean dwellings, chapels, and 
tombs are among the most remarkable sights in Rome. 
They bear a silent but eloquent testimony to the price 
paid for our liberty and our religion. 

On the way to the Catacombs we passed the little 
church or chapel of Quo Yadis, which is built on the 
spot where tradition tells us that St. Peter, fleeing from 
the persecutions in Rome, met a bright light approach¬ 
ing him in which he soon recognized his Lord and 
Master. Peter exclaimed, “Quo vadis, Domine?” 
(Where art thou going, Master?), and the Lord replied, 
“To Rome to be crucified anew.” Peter felt ashamed 
of his cowardice, repented, and returned to Rome to 
die a martyr. 

But it is to Rome as an ancient city that the student 
of history especially turns. It would be^ tedious to 
describe in detail all the places and objects of interest 
from old Roman days. I shall only name some of the 
objects and places we visited: the Capitoline Hill with 
its museums of ancient remains, the Senatorial Build¬ 
ing, the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, the 
Trophies of Caius Marius, and the Tarpeian Rock; the 
Palatine with its stupendous ruins of imperial palaces 
from the first century; the Roman Forum with its re¬ 
mains of temples, triumphal arches, comitium, rostra, 
columns, basilicas, and the Via Sacra—a comparatively 
small place, but one in which more business was trans¬ 
acted than in any other spot in the ancient world; the 
Forum of Trajan with its lofty columns, 147 feet in 
height, containing upon its winding scroll more than 


ITALY. 


329 


2,500 human figures; the Triumphal Arches of Titus 
and Constantine, the former bearing upon its side a 
well-preserved picture of the seven-branched golden 
candlestick taken from Jerusalem; the Colosseum, the 
largest structure of its kind in the world and one which 



Arch of Titus. 


Glimpses of three Continents. 22. 





330 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


has awed and impressed over fifty generations of the 
human race; the Circus Maximus and the Aventine; 
the Mausoleum or Tomb of Hadrian, now known as 
the Castello Sant J Angelo, one of the best preserved 
monuments of the Caesars; the Pantheon; the Baths 
of Caracalla and Diocletian, etc., etc. 

I must not forget to mention the massive walls of 
Aurelian, built in the third century and wonderfully 
well preserved. These walls and nearly all the buildings 
of ancient Pome still standing are of concrete work 
composed of fragments of rock and brick, mixed with 
cement made of lime and pozzolana, a reddish sandy 
earth of volcanic origin found in enormous beds under 
and around the city. No more durable cement than 
this has ever been found. The concrete walls were 
usually faced with brick, sometimes with marble. The 
brick was of an excellent quality, hard as rock. It is 
of a yellowish or brownish color and is made much 
thinner than ours. The average thickness of the Roman 
brick was a little over an inch. 

One of the most interesting of recent finds in Rome 
is the discovery of subterranean passages beneath the 
ancient Forum containing remains with inscriptions 
which it is said could not have been read without diffi¬ 
culty in the days of Caesar and Cicero. 

These visits to Naples, Rome, and Pompeii were made 
on our outgoing trip the previous November. On our 
return trip we stopped only a day at Naples, arriving 
in the morning and leaving about midnight. Our next 
stop was at Genoa. The voyage requires about 20 hours. 
We reached Genoa too late in the evening to effect a 
landing and remained on board all night. The next 



The Castle of St. Angelo and St. Peter's. 





















332 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


morning we bade farewell to the Sachsen, which had 
served us as a home for nearly two weeks, ever since we 
left Batoum. That was on the 17th, it was now the 30th 
of April. 

Genoa has a population of 250,000 and is rapidly 
growing. It is the chief commercial city of Italy. It 
is admirably located on a bay in the northwestern part 
of the country. It has a fine and commodious harbor 
protected by artificial breakwaters. Broadly speaking, 
it is more typical of Italy as a whole than any other 
Italian city. The mountains reach down to the sea, and 
the city is built on the rising slopes, presenting a lovely 
view as you approach it from the sea. 

In the newer parts of the city there are many fine 
business places and broad, straight streets, but in the 
older parts the streets are very crooked and narrow. 
The buildings are unusually high for a European city, 
and as you walk along the narrow streets and look up 
the tops of the buildings almost seem to meet. Cats 
can jump from the roof of one building to that of an¬ 
other across the street. Very often in the upper stories 
lines are stretched across the streets, and the space is 
used for drying clothes. The houses are built in ter¬ 
races along the steep hillsides, and very compactly, so 
that each row of houses looks out upon the roofs of the 
houses below it. These roofs often present a picturesque 
view. Vegetables and flowers are planted in boxes and 
placed on the roofs to grow. In some instances the 
roofs are used for chicken coops or poultry yards. 

Among the noted men Genoa has given to the world, 
Columbus, Paganini, and Mazzini occupy the foremost 
places. Every school child in America knows of Genoa, 


ITALY. 


333 



because Columbus was born there. Uenoa is a connect¬ 
ing link between the United States and Italy. The 
Americans are there held in high esteem and the best 
emigrants from Italy to the United Slates embark at 
this port. 


A narrow street in Genoa. 












334 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


There are at least two places in Genoa that every 
American wants to visit: The first is the beautiful 
marble statue of Columbus, erected in 1862, in a public 



CRISTOFORO COLOMBO 
LA PA-MI A 


Columbus monument. 


















ITALY. 


335 


square, the Piazza Acquaverde, near the harbor. It is 
a lofty monument worthy of the great navigator, and 
it is beautifully embosomed in a cluster of tall palms 



House of Columbus. 






















336 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


and tropical foliage. The other is the House of Colum¬ 
bus, the house in which he was brought up. It is located 
on a narrow street in an old part of the city. It is 
marked by a memorial tablet. 

Other places of interest to the tourist are the follow¬ 
ing: The University with its excellent library contain¬ 
ing many valuable manuscripts; The Palazzo Eeale, or 
Eoyal Palace; The numerous ancient Palaces, many of 
which are now used as art galleries; The Church of the 
Annunziata, rich in frescoes and wood carvings; The 
Church of San Lorenzo, founded in 985, where relics 
of John the Baptist are said to be preserved, and where 
it is claimed that the vessel used by our Saviour at the 
institution of the Lord’s Supper is still kept; and, 
finally the Campo Santo. This is one of the most re¬ 
markable cemeteries in the world. It is located along 
the slopes of the mountains some distance outside of 
the city. It contains sections for the poor, the middle 
class, and the elite. In the last named section the mon¬ 
uments are of such elaborate designs and artistic nature 
that the whole resembles rather an immense art gallery 
than a cemetery. The mere place for a tomb in some 
instances costs from ten to twelve thousand dollars; the 
artistic monument afterwards erected often costs a like 
sum. These prices naturally limit that portion of the 
cemetery to the wealthy. 

There is one monument which is sure to attract the 
attention of the visitor, provided he knows its history. 
It is that of an old woman, a former fruit vender of 
Genoa. All her life she had lived in the most abject 
circumstances, in order to save money to purchase a 
burial place and to erect a beautiful monument for her- 



The Campo Santo 











338 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


self. When she grew old and realized that she must 
soon depart, she ordered a celebrated sculptor to come 
to her home at regular intervals and make sketches of 
her, so that he might be able to reproduce her likeness 
in marble. This he is said to have done with remark¬ 
able success. When she died her children buried her 
according to her wishes. The beautiful monument was 
placed over her tomb. The burial place and the monu¬ 
ment together cost her eleven thousand dollars, which 
sum she had been enabled to save out of her small 
earnings. 

There are a number of illustrious men—poets, sculp¬ 
tors, and patriots— of national and world fame, buried 
here. Among them Joseph Mazzini no doubt occupies 
the foremost place. 

We spent four days in this beautiful Italian city, and 
then took the train across the mountains, into the Lom¬ 
bard valley, through the ancient city of Pavia, and made 
our next stop at Milan. 

This city dates back to the time of the Roman Re¬ 
public. It was at one time the seat of government of 
the Roman Empire in the West. It was destroyed by 
Frederick Barbarossa, but rebuilt by the Lombard 
League. It was long a bone of contention between 
Austria and France. It has survived all vicissitudes 
and stands to-day next after Naples the largest city in 
Italy. 

Its chief point of interest to visitors is its wonderful 
Cathedral. It is located in the Piazza del Duomo, or 
* Cathedral Square, which forms the center of the com¬ 
mercial and public life of Milan. After S*t. Peter’s and 
the Cathedral of Seville it is the largest church in 



The Cathedral of Milan. 











































340 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Europe. Its building was begun in 1387 on the site 
of an ancient church referred to by St. Ambrose, in 
the fourth century, as the “great new basilica.” Like 
most all cathedrals it has the form of the Latin cross. 
Its greatest length is 486 feet and its width 288 feet. 
The height of the tower above the pavement is 360 feet. 
It is built of brick and is covered with white marble. 
It has more ornaments in the way of spires and statues 
than any other church in the world. The inside is orna¬ 
mented with over 1,000 statues and the outside with 
over 2,000. The beautifully painted windows in the 
choir are the largest in the world. The roof is a perfect 
forest of spires. In its exterior architecture the church 
is absolutely unique; there is not another one like it in 
the world. In Gothic architecture the linear effect 
should be vertical, but here it is decidedly horizontal, 
and in spite of its great height and its many spires the 
appearance of the structure is somewhat squatty. 

The interior is remarkable for its beauty and gran¬ 
deur. There are five parallel naves. The roof is sup¬ 
ported by fifty-two columns, each over ten feet in diam¬ 
eter. The church contains many rare treasures and 
relics, one of which is said to be a nail from the Holy 
Cross. 

The view from the roof is most magnificent. The 
eye sweeps over the greater part of the upper Lombard 
valley. To the north and northwest are the snowy peaks 
of the Alps, among which Mt. Cenis, Mt. Blanc, Matter¬ 
horn, and Rosa may readily be seen. 

Another memorable church in Milan is the Basilica of 
St. Ambrose. It was founded in the fourth century by 
the saint whose name it bears, who was then archbishop 


ITALY. 


341 


of Milan. Here St. Augustine was baptized by the great 
archbishop. Here, too, the same great archbishop re¬ 
fused admittance to the Emperor Theodosius until he 
had done public penance for the massacre of Thessa- 
lonica. 

Another church which demands the attention of the 
visitor is that of Santa Maria delle Grazie, and that 
especially on account of the adjoining convent, on a 
wall of which is found Leonardo da Vinci’s great mas¬ 
terpiece, The Last Supper. 

The Palazzo di Brera, built for a Jesuit college and 
now used as a scientific institute, library, museum, and 
art gallary, contains some of the finest collections of 
paintings in all Italy. 

Like other great Italian cities, Milan has a number 
of beautiful palaces, the most notable of which is the 
Palazzo Reale. As a modern city, it has its parks and 
gardens, monuments, and magnificent buildings. The 
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, along the Cathedral Square, 
with its magnificent octagonal glass covered dome, 167 
feet high, is by far the largest and most beautiful struc¬ 
ture of its kind in all Europe. 






The Colosseum 

























CHAPTER XV. 

Switzerland . 

After four days we bade farewell to Milan. Our next 
objective point was Zurich. Thirty years ago this trip 
would have been a great undertaking for you would then 
have had to cross the crest of the Alps in a stage coach, 
which would have required many days. To-day it is 
only a pleasure trip of eight hours and of the most en¬ 
joyable kind. 

The St. Gothard railway was begun in 1872 and com¬ 
pleted in 1882. On an average ten thousand men were 
employed in the work daily. It is perhaps the greatest 
engineering work in the world. From Chiasso to Lu¬ 
cerne, a distance of 172 miles there are 76 tunnels and 
galleries with a total length of 29 miles. In addition to 
these there are 1,384 structures including bridges over 
rivers, torrents and chasms. The road makes a number 
of circular loops, nearly all in tunnels. You enter a 
tunnel and after a round of about a mile you emerge 
again into the light at about the same point that you 
entered, only higher up or lower down as the case 
may be. 

The St. Gothard tunnel is a little over nine miles 
long, and until recently it was the longest tunnel in the 


344 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


world. It runs through the mountain about a mile be¬ 
low the pass and beneath the bed of a mountain lake. 
The center of the tunnel is the highest point of the road. 

Our route took us up to the beautiful town of Como at 
the southern end of the lake of the same name. This is 
an old Roman town, the birthplace of the younger Pliny 
and perhaps of the elder too. Three miles beyond Como 
we reach Chiasso. We have just passed the Italian line 
and entered Switzerland. Our train made a long halt. 
Every passenger with all his hand baggage had to leave 
the train, pass into the custom house through one door, 
and after passing customs, pass out through another 
and board the train again. 

In a few minutes we crossed the Lake of Lugano and 
reached the town of the same name. The scenery at this 
place is wonderfully enchanting. We soon struck the 
Ticino and ascended it to Airolo. Here we entered the 
St. Gothard tunnel. It took us just fifteen minutes to 
make the nine miles. And what a change those fifteen 
minutes wrought! When we entered the tunnel the heav¬ 
ens were overspread with leaden clouds, and it was rain¬ 
ing; when we emerged from the tunnel the sun was 
shining, fleecy clouds flecked the deep blue, and the 
towering mountains on either side glistened with their 
snowy tops in the sunlight. But that was not all: the 
architecture was different, and the people had changed in 
physiognomy, dress, and speech; the “Stazione” had be- 
some a “Bahnhof”, and the “Albergo” a “Gasthaus.” We 
had passed from Italian into German Switzerland. 

We were now descending by the same processes as we 
had been ascending before. In a short time we reached 
Altdorf and Fluelen at the upper end of the beautiful 



Glimpses of three Continents . 23 


The Lake and City of Lugano. 












346 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Lake of the Four Cantons. We were now in the most 
charming and romantic parts of Switzerland—the 
scenes of William Tell. 

At Goldau at the southern end of Lake Zug we 
changed cars as our train turned westward at this point 
to Lucerne, and we were bound northward for Zurich. 
The scenery quickly changed. The country became 
comparatively level. We crossed a watershed by means 
of a long tunnel and reached Lake Zurich. At its north¬ 
ern end this lake runs out through the river Limmat 
and finds its way to the Rhine. It is at the point of this 
outlet that the city of Zurich is located. 

Zurich is the largest and most important city in 
Switzerland. It was one of the centers of the Reforma¬ 
tion, for it was here that Ulrich Zwingli lived and la¬ 
bored. Zurich also became a center of learning and art, 
and it has not inaptly been called the “Athens on the 
Limmat.” 

We spent ten days in this charming city and visited 
most of the objects of interest in the place; such as the 
University, the art galleries, places associated with the 
memory of Ulrich Zwingli—the house in which he lived 
and the Grossmiinster church where he was pastor for 
twelve years, the Monument of Pestalozzi, and the Na¬ 
tional Museum. This museum belongs to the Swiss 
Federation and differs from most institutions of its kind 
in that it has placed its collections in appropriate and 
historical settings. In this respect it resembles the 
Northern Museum in Stockholm, though it has not car¬ 
ried out the idea to the same extent as the Northern 
Museum has. 

Our next sojourn was at Lucerne, on the Reuss, at the 


SWITZERLAND. 


347 



lower end of the Lake of the Four Cantons. This 
beautiful city is preeminently a tourist center. Grander 
and more beautiful scenery than is here enjoyed can 


The National Museum at Zurich. 








Lucerne and Mount Pilatus. 




















On the Lake of the Four Cantons. 











350 


GLIMPSES OF THKEE CONTINENTS. 


hardly be imagined. To the east is the celebrated Rigi 
with its cogwheel railway reaching to the summit, or 
Rigi-Kulm. To the southwest is the towering Pilatus 
with its solemn and threatening aspect and associations 
of mediaeval legends and mythical folklore. It has 
several peaks, the most celebrated being Esel, nearest 
Lucerne. It may be reached by a railway, most care¬ 
fully constructed, rising with an average grade of 38 
feet to the hundred. According to legend, it was 
among the recesses of this mountain that Pontius Pilate 
spent his last years in exile, and where he ended his life 
by drowning in a lake near its summit. Here, the legend 
has it, a spectral figure may at times be seen rising from 
the water and going through the motions of washing its 
hands. 

But above all, there is the beautiful lake. An excur¬ 
sion upon its picturesque waters is one of peculiar inter- 



TelVs Chapel. 








SWITZERLAND. 


351 



est and charm. At every point of view from the steamer 
the eye is met with new beanty and grandeur. Every 
nook and corner is sacred to some romance of patriotism 


The Schiller Stone . 








352 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


and love, and over it all seem to hover the spirits of 
Schiller and of Tell. 

Near the upper end of the lake is a little chapel on a 
ledge of rocks, marking the spot which tradition points 
out as the landing place of Tell when he escaped from 
his captors. At one angle of the lake stands a gigantic 
natural obelisk, 85 feet high, which has been dedicated 
to the memory of S'chiller, whose genius has made Wil¬ 
liam Tell immortal and inscribed forever these scenes 
and places on the pages of literature. 



The Lion of Lucerne. 





SWITZERLAND. 


353 


There are also a number of interesting sights in the 
city itself. The foremost of all is, perhaps, the “Lion 
of Lucerne.” In a quiet and sequestered part of the city, 
on the smooth face of a cliff, sixty feet in height, is 
sculptured the gigantic form of a wounded lion, striving 
even in death to defend the Lilies of France. It was ex¬ 
ecuted in 1821 by Ahern after a model of the celebrated 
Thorwaldsen. It is meant to commemorate the fidelity 
of the Swiss Guards who fell in the defense of the 
Palace of the Tuileries during the massacre of the 10th 
of August, 1792, near the opening of the French Revo¬ 
lution. 

After a three days’ visit here, we moved on to Inter¬ 
laken. The road up through Briinig Pass and then down 
into the valley of the two lakes—Brienz and Thun—be¬ 
tween which lies Interlaken, is another feat of engineer¬ 
ing skill. 

From Interlaken we made several interesting excur¬ 
sions, one of which was to Harderkulm on the north 
side of the town. The funicular railway leading to the 
summit is said to be the steepest in the world, rising on 
an average 75 feet to the hundred. There is but a single 
track with a switch midway up the mountain where the 
cars meet. The cars run on rollers and are kept on the 
winding track only by the cable and pulleys. The road 
is said to be perfectly safe, but the sensation experienced 
in descending for thousands of feet a road nearly per¬ 
pendicular is anything but pleasant to most people. The 
view from the summit, however, is most enchanting. At 
your feet lies the valley of the Aar and the two beautiful 
lakes and southward you have a majestic view of the 
giants of the Alps, especially of the three in the im- 


I 



The Eiger , the Monch, and the Jungfrau. 






SWITZERLAND. 


355 


mediate vicinity—the Eiger, the Monch, and the Jung¬ 
frau. 

The excursion up the Lauterbrunnen valley and the 
Wengernalp to Kleine Scheidegg and the Eiger Glacier 
was, perhaps, the grandest on our whole trip. As you 
ascend the vallev the mountains on either side become 
steeper and higher and before you rises the majestic 
form of the Jungfrau robed in eternal whiteness. But 
the scenery is not only awe-inspiring and sublime, it is 
also rich in the most delicate beauty. Every nook and 
corner is covered with the freshest verdure and filled 
with myriads of flowers. One of the remarkable feat¬ 
ures of the valley is the Fall of the Staubbach, which 
here leaps over a precipice more than 900 feet high and 
is changed into vapor before it reaches the ground. 

The view from the station at Kleine Scheidegg over 
the vast panorama of ice and snow towering ever up¬ 
ward toward the sky is truly overwhelming. Here na¬ 
ture certainly reaches one of her highest points of grand¬ 
eur and sublimity. As we stood gazing upon this won¬ 
derful scene and wishing that we might have a chance 
to witness an avalanche over these immense stretches, 
a huge mass of ice and snow suddenly broke loose from 
some dizzy height, slid down the steep incline, and fell 
over a precipice hundreds of feet into a mighty chasm, 
while the mountains echoed and re-echoed with the 
sound. On our return trip we took the route by Grindel- 
wald and passed by the celebrated Grindelwald Glacier. 

One evening at sunset after a heavy thunderstorm we 
looked out through our window and saw the Jungfrau 
covered with a new mantle of purest white. It had 
snowed up there. The rays of the setting sun lighted up 



Interlaken and the Jungfrau. 









SWITZERLAND. 


357 


the mountain top with a splendor unsurpassed against 
the dark background of heavy clouds. The roseate Al¬ 
pine glow, which we also had an opportunity of witness¬ 
ing, is indescribably beautiful. 

Leaving Interlaken we passed down the valley of the 
Aar to the quaint old city of Berne, since 1848 the 
capital of the Federation. The old Gothic Cathedral, 
the ancient Clock Tower, the lofty Nydeck Bridge, the 
beautiful Federal Buildings, the colonnades or arcades 
along the principal streets, the magnificent panorama of 
the Oberland Alps, the splendid fountains, the famous 
Bear Pit, the intelligent dogs hitched to carts and made 
to draw loads, are among the interesting sights of Berne. 

From this place our course took us to Basel, on the 
northern border of Switzerland, where we stopped only 
long enough to pass customs and to change cars. Thence 
we proceeded down the Rhine through Strassburg and 
Worms to Mainz. 

On the second day after our arrival I received the 
following telegram: 

“I am in Tiflis—Knanishu.” 

We thus had a message from Persia at last. We sup¬ 
posed that Rev. Joseph Knanishu had succeeded in get¬ 
ting across the frontiers to Tiflis in Russia, only 13 
hours’ run from Batoum, where we had been only six 
weeks before. From the daily papers we learned, how¬ 
ever, that the war in Persia was still going on and that 
it* was not a time then to attempt a visit to that country. 
Wishing, however, to see Rev. Knanishu and to talk over 
the situation in Persia with him, I telegraphed him to 
meet us at the American Consul’s office in Berlin. We 
arranged our trip so as to meet him there. 


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CHAPTER XVI. 

Germany. 

Mainz is beautifully located on the west side of the 
Rhine opposite the mouth of the Main. Its favorable lo¬ 
cation attracted the attention of the old Celts, and a city 
was built there before the Roman conquest. The Ro¬ 
mans fortified the place. During* the middle ages Mainz 
became a city of note and was known as “Das goldene 
Mainz.” It early became the seat of an archbishop and 
of one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire. 
Here in the thirteenth century the Rhenish League was 
organized. For more than twelve centuries it has been 
a place of distinction, during which time it has at inter¬ 
vals been a home or place of sojourn for a longer or 
shorter time of some of the world’s greatest men: St. 
Boniface, Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa, Gusta- 
vus Adolphus, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Kaiser Wil¬ 
liam I. 

There are a number of interesting places to visit in 
'this old historic city, first among which is, perhaps, the 
old Cathedral, which comes down to us from the tenth 
century. It is associated with the name of the Elector- 
Archbishop Albert of Mainz who has the unenviable dis¬ 
tinction of having commissioned John Tetzel to sell in- 


360 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


diligences. Near the Cathedral is Thorwaldsen’s beauti¬ 
ful bronze statue of Johann Gutenberg. 

From Mainz we made an excursion to Frankfort 





The Cathedral of Mainz. 









GERMANY. 


361 


on the Main, about an hour's run eastward. Immediate¬ 
ly across the Rhine from Mainz is Gustavsburg, a re¬ 
minder of the days of Gustavus Adolphus. Frankfort 
is one of the great tourist centers of Germany. More 
than half a million of visitors throng its hotels annually. 
It is a beautiful city with magnificent buildings and 
clean, well paved streets. The city has long since ex¬ 
tended beyond the ancient walls and ditches once sur¬ 
rounding it. The old walls have been removed and the 
ditches filled up, and the ground thus recovered has 
been formed into a series of elegant parks with trees 
and flowers and lovely drives and walks and beautiful 
fountains. 

Here, as in German and Swiss cities in general, many 
of the quaint old houses still remain. Some of them 
are beautifully ornamented with rich wood carvings and 
have painted inscriptions on the sides and gables. These 
inscriptions are usually of a religious or patriotic na¬ 
ture, like the following specimens: 

“On earth we build, 

For heaven we strive/' 

“A German home in a German land 

May the Lord protect with a mighty hand." 

Frankfort is associated with a gTeat number of famous 
names, among which the foremost is that of Goethe, who 
was born here, and whose house still remains. The city 
fairly swarms with beautiful monuments. Those of 
Goethe, Schiller, Gutenberg, Charlemagne, and Kaiser 
William I are the most noted. 

We also made an excursion to Worms, an hour's run 
southward. The center of attraction here, in the first 

Glimpses of three Continents. 2U. 


362 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


place, is the great Reformation Monument, built from 
funds collected in all Protestant lands, and unveiled in 
1868. It is the work of the great artist Ernst Rietschel 
and his pupils. It is undoubtedly the most remarkable 
monument in the world, an embodiment in stone of the 
whole Reformation movement. There are the forerun¬ 
ners, the co-workers, the Evangelical princes and cities, 
and in the midst of it all towers the majestic figure of 
the great Reformer. . 

Near the monument stands the Heyl Mansion on the 
spot where the Diet of Worms was held. It is the prop¬ 
erty of Freiherrn von Ileyl zu Herrnsheim. The 
Bischofshof in which the Diet was held was destroyed by 
fire in 1689. In 1717 it was rebuilt but was burnt by 
the French in 1794. The present structure was built 
in 1884. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens open to 
the public at stated times each week. 

Our next objective point was Leipzig. En route we 
passed through a number of historical places, such as 
Eisenach, Gotha, Erfurt, and Weimar. At Eisenach 
we made a stop-over for a day and a night. The country 
through which we passed was charmingly beautiful, but 
we missed the farm houses so common in this country. 
The tillers of the soil in Germany, even those who own 
their lands, live as a rule in towns and villages. Large 
parts of the country are owned by landlords and worked 
by hired labor. In many places we saw groups of 60 
or 70 laborers, mostly women, children, and old men. 
I asked a gentleman why this work seemed left to women 
and children, and he replied: “Men’s wages are too 
high. The men are needed in the military service and 
in factories. Large numbers of laborers are imported 









V . x ^ •>. . v 

"*» • 


III 






n 


& 




TTie Reformation Monument in Worms 




















































364 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



from Hungary and other lands where wages are lower/’ 
Germany is largely a great workshop,, and “Made in 
Germany” is a standing phrase the world over. 

It was in Eisenach that Luther attended school and, 
like other poor students, sang at the doors of the 
wealthy for his sustenance until Madame Cotta took 


The Luther House at Eisenach. 











tmm *s 



Wartburg Castle. 














366 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


him up and gave him a home in her house. This old 
“Luther-Haus” is still standing. In 1898 the lower 
story of it was converted into an old-time German 
restaurant. On the second floor is a small room once 
used as a study by Luther and into it opens a little 
alcove used as his bedroom. 

But the chief attraction in Eisenach is the Wartburg 
Castle, where Luther after the Diet of Worms spent ten 
months in involuntary concealment. It is located about 
a mile to the southwest and on a hill some 600 feet 
above the city. At regular intervals every day guides 
meet bands of tourists and conduct them through the 
halls and rooms of the old castle. The most interesting 
room, of course, is that occupied by Luther, where he 
worked and studied and where he translated the New 
Testament. His old writing desk is still there, so are 
also his chairs, his bedstead, and the old porcelain stove 
or fireplace. Our guide points out to us the place on 
the wall where the ink spot used to be. It is not there 
any more. We are told that eager tourists have scraped 
it off for mementoes, even after it had been restored a 
time or two. 

The view from the tower of the castle is one of mag¬ 
nificent distances in all directions, and one of the finest 
in all Germany. 

While waiting for our Leipzig train we had a chance 
to see other interesting sights of the place, such as the 
monument of Martin Luther and that of the great com¬ 
poser Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born here about 
two hundred years after Luther. 

Leipzig is one of the largest and finest cities in Ger¬ 
many and the largest book publishing city in the world. 



The University of Leipzig. 


























































368 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Its beautiful streets, drives, parks, and public squares; 
its countless monuments and rich museums and art gal¬ 
leries; its famous University and other educational in¬ 
stitutions; its grand churches and magnificent public 
buildings—all would require a volume to describe. I 
shall not even attempt a description. 

From Leipzig excursions were made to Halle, Eis- 
leben, and Liitzen. Eisleben is a place of 24,000 in¬ 
habitants about 40 miles northwest of Leipzig. It is 
located on the gentle slopes of a long hill with a large 
and fertile valley stretching out before it. It contains 
two places which every tourist wants to visit. They are 
the two Luther Houses. The first one bears a memorial 
tablet informing the visitor in the German tongue that 
here on the 10th of November, 1483, Martin Luther was 
born. The other, about two blocks away, also bears a 
tablet in like manner informing you that here on the 
18th of February, 1546, Martin Luther died. Both 
places are open to visitors and contain interesting relics 
and memorials of the great Reformer. 

As Eisleben marks the place where the Restorer of 
Evangelical Faith and Founder of Modern Freedom 
was born and where he died, so Liitzen marks the place 
where the Defender of that Faith and Freedom fought 
and fell. The two places are not far apart, for Liitzen 
is only a few miles southwest of Leipzig. It is an in¬ 
significant place in itself, but its fame is immortal. The 
spot where Gustavus Adolphus fell was long marked by 
a plain stone bearing the inscription “G. A. 1632.” 
Later there was placed over it a starry canopy supported 
by four posts and bearing upon the frieze of the four 
sides suitable inscriptions in German. Through the 



Schwedenstein and Cliapel at Liitzen 


















370 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


munificence of Consul Oscar Ekman of Sweden there 
has recently been erected a beautiful stone chapel. It 
was dedicated November 6, 1907, on the 275th anniver¬ 
sary of the death of Giustavus. 

While in Leipzig I called on Director von Schwartz, 
who is in charge of the mission institute of the Leipzig 
Society, whose missions in India we had visited a few 
months before. I also called on Dr. Richard Handmann, 
who has spent 23 years as a missionary in India and 
who is now in charge of the publishing work of the 
society. He told me that he had been well acquainted 
with our missionary Rev. A. B. Carlson and had buried 
him at Madras in 1882. He had very positive views 
as to methods of conducting mission work in India. 
Among other points he emphasized the following: There 
must be continuity of effort. The home board must be 
a permanent body, composed of men with expert knowl¬ 
edge as to mission work. There must be a mission in¬ 
stitute for training missionaries. Only strong and well 
fitted men and women should be sent out. The ultimate 
object of all mission work should be the establishment 
of a native church. There should be no unnecessary 
interference with national customs and institutions. 

After six days at Leipzig we took the train for Berlin. 
On our way we stopped at Wittenberg to visit the places 
sacred to the memory of Martin Luther. As we came 
up from the depot the first object of interest to meet 
our eyes was the Luther Oak, which marks the place of 
the burning of the papal bull. Next in order came the 
Luther House, where Luther lived and labored. The 
living room, bedroom, study, and lecture halls were vis¬ 
ited. In all these rooms there were some mementoes of 


GERMANY. 


371 



Luther—furniture, letters, books, etc. Outside was the 
garden in which Luther was wont to work during 
leisure hours. We also visited the old Castle Church, 


The Castle Church at Wittenberg. 



















372 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


but the door on which the theses were posted has been 
replaced and is no longer to be seen. 

We reached Berlin in the evening of the same day, 
June 7th. The first thing I did after breakfast the next 
morning was to call at the American Consul’s office to 
see if Rev. Knanishu had arrived and had inquired for 
me. The consul said, “Yes, he called me up by phone 
about an hour ago and asked whether you had come yet. 
I told him you had not.” I left our address with the 
consul, and at noon the next day when we returned 
from a sight-seeing tour we found the following note 
on our table: 

“I, Baba Knanishu, Joseph’s brother, will call after 
dinner and shall be very happy to meet you. 

“Respectfully, Baba Knanishu.” 

This letter puzzled us a great deal. It was not Rev. 
Knanishu, then, who had come to Berlin. The mystery 
was soon cleared up, for in the afternoon Dr. Baba 
Knanishu arrived. He informed us that his brother 
Joseph Knanishu was dead; that he had died at the 
American Presbyterian Hospital on March 26. He 
had thus been dead five days when we arrived in Batoum, 
March 31, where we expected to meet him. 

The cause of death was evidently malpractice on the 
part of the physician. For a number of years, Rev. 
Knanishu had been troubled with eczema on the back 
of his neck, which occasioned him some inconvenience 
at times. The doctor assured him that he could cure 
him in a few days. He applied a salve, and after 
thirteen hours of indescribable suffering, the patient was 
dead. He left a widow and four children, of whom the 
oldest was only thirteen years of age. 


GERMANY. 


373 


Dr. Baba Knanishu, who had studied a number of 
years at the University of Uppsala, was a practicing 
physician in Urmia. He spent four days with us at 
Berlin and gave us a full account of conditions in 
Persia and of our own mission work in Urmia. Owing 
to the disturbed conditions of the country it was not 
possible for him to return home immediately. He 
decided to go to S’t. Petersburg and there await a favor¬ 
able opportunity for his return. At Copenhagen, how¬ 
ever, he was taken sick and had to spend some time at 
a hospital. From there he went to Sweden, and it was 
not till the following year that he finally reached his 
native land. 

Upon hearing the report of Bev. Knanishu’s death, 
the Augustana Synod authorized its mission board to 
invite Mrs. Knanishu to come to America, promising 
to support her and her children. The instructions were 
carried out, and the family is now residing in Rock 
Island, Ill. 

Berlin is one of the youngest, largest, and most beauti¬ 
ful of the capital cities of the world. It has no great 
harbor like Hew York, nor is it located on a great in¬ 
land waterway like Chicago, but its growth has neverthe¬ 
less been most phenomenal. It is the heart and center 
of the great German Empire. It is an embodiment of 
the energy, integrity, and love of order of the German 
people. It is the financial and commercial center of the 
Continent, and it is said to have the cleanest and most 
efficient government of any city in the world. 

The prevailing spirit throughout the city is decidedly 
martial. The magnificent monuments that adorn the 
parks and streets and public squares are principally of 


374 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


a military type. Soldiers parade the streets every day. 
On the square in front of the University they hold their 
reviews, and their martial music drowns the voice of the 
professor in the lecture halls within. 

The musical taste of the German people is everywhere 
in evidence. In every city of the Empire high-class 
music is dispensed in parks, public squares, and music 
halls. In this respect too Berlin is a typical city. It 
is said that it “averages twenty classical concerts daily 
during the season.” 

The University of Berlin, founded in 1810, during 
the days of Germany’s humiliation and defeat, by such 
men as Fichte, Schleiermacher, and William von Hum¬ 
boldt, breathed from the start the spirit of Prussian re¬ 
generation. It has had a remarkable growth. With its 
five hundred professors and ten thousand students it 
takes its place among the foremost universities in the 
world. During its short history of a hundred years it 



The University of Berlin. 








GERMANY. 


375 



lias gathered around itself such illustrious names as Ne- 
ander, Mommsen, Curtius, Banke, Bopp, Helmholz, and 
Hegel, besides those of its founders. 

In the magnificence and beauty of its buildings, Ber¬ 
lin ranks among the finest cities of the world. Its parks 
and pleasure grounds are marvels of beauty. Its zoologi¬ 
cal garden is, perhaps, the finest on the Continent. Its 
fashionable thoroughfare, Unter den Linden, is the 
broadest street but one in all Europe. If the visitor, 
however, expects a shady walk or drive under wide- 


The “ DomBerlin. 












376 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


spreading lindens he will be disappointed, for the trees 
along the center of the street all seem to be of a stunted 
growth. At the west end of this street is the celebrated 
Brandenburg Gate, beyond which are the beautiful Par¬ 
liament Building and the Thiergarten. 

During our stay in Berlin we made an excursion to 
Potsdam, the German Versailles. It lies sixteen miles 
to the southwest on the river Havel, which here widens 
out into several beautiful lakes. The city is fringed 
with royal gardens, parks, and palaces. Here in the 
“Hew Palace,” built by Frederick the Great, is the prin¬ 
cipal residence of the German Emperor. 



The Brandenburg Gate. 












Glimpses of three Continents. 25 


TJnter den Linden 



















378 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Perhaps the most interesting object to visitors here is 
the favorite villa, or residence, of Frederick the Great, 
called by him Sans Souci, “Free from Care.” It is a 
low structure, built on a terraced hill and reached by 
magnificent flights of steps. Here Frederick the Great 
delighted to spend his leisure hours in literary pursuits 
and in the society of intellectual friends, among whom 
was the celebrated Voltaire. Here to select parties he 
gave his famous dinners, famous for their symposiums 
of music and wit. Though the palace is still kept up 
in the style of Frederick the Great, there is an air of 
loneliness and desertion about it, forcibly reminding one 
that its day is past and its glory departed and that it is 
now only a memorial of the past. 




CHAPTER XVII. 

Sweden. 

After nearly a fortnight’s visit we left the beautiful 
capital on the Spree for the no less beautiful one on the 
Malar Lake. The first part of our journey took us 
through a low flat country, 125 miles, to Stralsund, a 
place memorable in the history of Sweden’s struggle for 
the control of the Baltic. Here a large ferry carried our 
whole train across an arm of the sea to the Island of 
Riigen. Safely landed we continued our journey across 
the beautiful island to Sassnitz. Here the steamer Im¬ 
perial was waiting to take us across the Baltic to Trelle- 
borg at the southern point of Sweden. The passage re¬ 
quired a little over four hours. 

At Trelleborg we passed customs and again boarded 
a train. After an hour’s run we reached Malmo, where 
we broke our journey and rested for the night. It was 
already ten o’clock, but it was still light. We were re¬ 
minded that we had now reached a latitude where there 
is very little night at the midsummer season. 

The next morning we continued our journey. The 
first station of note after leaving Malmo is Lund. This 
is an ancient city and contains the second university in 
Sweden. During mediaeval times it was the seat of an 


380 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



archbishop, who for a time ranked as Primate of the 
North. The Cathedral of Lund, whose foundation dates 
back to the eleventh century, is in some respects the 
most notable church in Sweden. The crypt under the 
transept and choir is one of the largest in the world. 

Skane, the southern province of Sweden, is a rich and 
beautiful country, dotted all over with substantial farm 
houses. In fact it reminded us more strikingly of our 
own country than any other land we had yet visited. 
Western Smaland, however, which we next entered is 
very poor and rocky, and you naturally conclude that the 
people who can make a living there must be enterprising, 


The Cathedral of Lund. 










The Royal Palace, Stockholm. 
























382 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


thrifty, and industrious. What strikes the traveler every¬ 
where in Sweden is the idyllic beauty of the country. 
There is never any monotony, but an ever changing 
panorama of hills and valleys and groves and sparkling 
steams and silvery lakes. Few countries in the world 
have so many lakes as S*weden; one-twelfth of its entire 
surface is water. Our course next took us through Oster- 
gotland and Sodermanland, beautiful and fertile provin¬ 
ces. We reached Stockholm about eight o’clock in the 
evening. 

For beauty of location Stockholm ranks first among 
the capitals of the world; Constantinople comes second. 
Malar Lake, at the outlet of which it is built, extends, in¬ 
land over 80 miles and breaks into countless inlets, form¬ 
ing innumerable islands, points, and promontories, each 
adorned with some villa, palace, or castle and associated 
with a bit of history or romance. The city is substan¬ 
tially and beautifully built with clean and well-paved 
streets. The paving, however, is principally of stone, 
and, hence, it is a much noisier city than Berlin, where 
asphalt paving is more common. 

Stockholm offers a number of interesting sights to 
visitors. Among the many beautiful structures the 
Boyal Palace and the Parliament Building rank first. 
The Palace, completed in 1754, is one of the largest and 
finest in the world. It is a huge granite quadrangle, dis¬ 
tinguished for its grand and admirable proportions and 
its chaste and massive Italian style. It is open to visi¬ 
tors and there is a democratic air about it, both within 
and without. To its left and between the two channels 
of the Norrstrom lies the new Parliament Building. 

There are a number of beautiful parks adorned with 


SWEDEN. 


383 


statues and monuments, art galleries, the Loyal Library, 
and several museums. Among the latter the Northern 
Museum is the most unique. It is historic and ethno¬ 
graphical in character, and the collections are arranged 
in chronological order and given their appropriate set¬ 
tings. As you begin with the Old Stone Age and advance 
through the centuries down to the year 1900 A. D., you 
see the history of civilization unfolded before you, as 
it were, in a living, moving form. Connected with it 
is Skansen, an open-air museum, the only one of its 



The New Parliament Building. 













384 GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 

kind in the world. Here on a beautiful island are ex¬ 
hibited specimens of the dwellings and of the social and 
industrial life of the people of the various provinces of 
the kingdom from Lapland to Skane—a thousand miles 
of latitude. These dwellings are not mere imitations. 
The actual houses have been purchased, moved, and set 
up with all their surroundings of fences, barns, and 
other appurtenances. The furniture and implements 
too are there, and in some instances the people dressed 
in their local costumes may also be seen. 

Of the churches of Stockholm “Storkyrkan,” the 



The Northern Museum. 




SWEDEN. 


385 



Great Church, or Church of St. Nicholas, is the oldest 
and most remarkable. It was in it that Sweden’s great 
Reformer, Olaus Petri, preached. It stands in close 
proximity to the Royal Palace, and here the Swedish 
kings are wont to be crowned. 

St. John’s Church, “Johannes-kyrkan,” is one of the 
latest additions to Stockholm. It is built in Gothic 
style, and its towering steeple is a conspicuous figure 
in the city. It may be of interest to many of the readers 
of these lines to know that a former Augustana min- 


The Riddarholm Church. 








386 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


ister, the Bev. P. A. Wenner, is adjunct, or assistant 
pastor, in this church. 

The Biddarholm Church, founded by Magnus Ladu- 
las about 1270, has not been used as a place of worship 
for a hundred years. It is Sweden’s Westminster Abbey. 
Two rulers of mediaeval times, Magnus Ladulas and 
Charles VIII, rest there. Of modern kings Gustavus 
Adolphus was the first to be buried there. Since his day 
all the kings and queens of Sweden have been buried 
there, with the exception of Christina, whose tomb is in 
St. Peter’s in Borne. 

The delightful excursions that may be made in all 
directions from Stockholm seem almost numberless. 
The most interesting one is perhaps to Uppsala. This 
ancient town lies about forty miles north of Stockholm 
and is reached in an hour and a quarter by rail. It 
was in pagan days the religious center of the North. 
It is to-day the intellectual center, for here is located 
Sweden’s oldest and largest university, founded in 1477. 
The new University Building is a magnificent and beau¬ 
tiful structure. 

The University Library contains rare and valuable 
collections of letters and manuscripts. The most valu¬ 
able treasure is, no doubt, the Codex Argenteus, Bishop 
Ulfilas’ Meso-Gothic version of the Bible, the oldest 
specimen of Teutonic speech. 

Near the University Building and directly in front 
of it is the great Cathedral of Uppsala, Sweden’s largest 
and most imposing church. Its foundation dates back 
to the close of the thirteenth century. It has suffered 
much from fires and has often been repaired. The 
latest repairs and remodeling were completed about 



The University of Uppsala. 



































388 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



twenty years ago. The great founder of the modern 
Swedish monarchy, Gustavus Vasa, lies buried here. So 
does also his son John III. 

Other places of interest in Uppsala are the Fjellstedt 
School, the ‘Vasa Castle, the Botanical Garden, and the 
House of Linnaeus. Old Uppsala with its mounds and 
remains from pagan days is only a little over two miles 
away. 

We had intended to extend our trip further north to 
see the midnight sun and to make a short visit to Fin- 


The Cathedral of Uppsala, 







SWEDEN. 


389 


land, the land of Runeberg and Topelius; but our time 
was getting short, and we had to make this point the 
northern limit of our trip and from here to turn south¬ 
ward again. 

From Stockholm we took the train by way of Katrine- 
holm, Moholm, and Mariestad to Kinnekulle in Vaster- 
gotland. This is a quiet summer resort on the southern 
shores of Lake Yaner, the largest lake in Sweden and 
next to Ladoga and Onega the largest one in Europe. 
On the top of the hill which gives prominence to the 
place there has been erected a high observation tower, 
from which a magnificent view may be had over the 
lake and a large part of the province of Vastergotland. 

It was while stopping here for a few days that our 
notice was especially directed to the wonderful vegeta¬ 
tion of Sweden. One would never suppose that a coun¬ 
try in this high latitude, which is nearly the same as the 
southern part of Greenland, could have so mild a cli¬ 
mate. Nearly all the fruits common to the temperate 
zone grow wild here or may be successfully cultivated. 
Grasses, flowers, shrubs, and trees grow in a variety 
and profusion truly remarkable. There is a delicacy 
and freshness about the verdure, too, rarely seen else¬ 
where. All this may be explained by the fact that the 
sun is above the horizon such a large part of the day, 
and the growth is not retarded by long and dark nights. 
In walking from the hotel to the top of the hill, a dis¬ 
tance of about one mile, we counted no less than 73 
different kinds of wild flowers growing along the way. 

Leaving Kinnekulle we again took the train, and 
passing through Lidkoping and Hakantorp and the val¬ 
ley between Iiunneberg and Halleberg and Vanersborg, 


390 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


where the Gota River flows out of Lake Vliner, we final¬ 
ly reached Trollhattan, where we stopped a day to see the 
falls. Here the Gota River, the only outlet of the great 
lake named above, descends in a series of falls and rapids 
extending over a distance of about a mile. The first of 
these falls is known as Gulldfallet. An inaccessible little 
island, Guild , divides the falls into an eastern and a 
western part. The water here plunges down a depth of 
26 feet. Then comes Toppofallet, the highest of them 
all, 44 feet, also divided by an island. Next in order 
comes Stampestromsfallet, where the water falls nine 
feet. A little further down the water descends 28 feet 
in what is known as Helvetesfallet, or Infernal Falls. 
And last of all comes FloWbergstromsfallet, a fall of 
only 4 feet. The combined perpendicular height of 
these falls is 111 feet. 

Along these falls a stupendous granite staircase of 
eleven steps has been cut in the rock for steamboats to 
climb up and down upon. It is a wonderful sight to 
see the large and beautiful steamers ascend and descend 
this height of 111 feet with perfect ease and safety. 

From Trollhattan we took a canal steamer to Gote- 
borg, or Gothenburg, Sweden’s most important port 
and greatest commercial city, founded by Gustavus 
Adolphus. Here we enjoyed a stay of three days and 
visited its excellent art galleries and museums and its 
beautiful parks and other places of interest. 

From Goteborg we penetrated into the heart of Vas- 
tergotland. Passing through Alingsas, Falkoping, Var- 
tofta, and Sandhem, we finally reached Mulls jo, where 
we stopped a few days to visit my ancestral home and 
the places where my parents had spent their childhood 



Stampestromsfallet. 







392 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


and youth. It goes without saying that it was most in¬ 
teresting to me to see the old places whose names had 
been familiar to my ears from my earliest years and 
which had been reverently mentioned by father and 
mother as “home” in story and song. 

Of relatives but few remained. Some had removed 
to America and others to various parts of the homeland. 
Some old people still remained who remembered nry 
parents from childhood and youth. Among them was 
a cousin of my mother, who with her husband, an old 
soldier, lived alone in a neat little cottage, which was 
adorned with pictures and all kinds of souvenirs from 
America. They had six children, all in America but 
one, and he too was away from home. This picture is 
not an uncommon one in Sweden, nor, for that matter, 
in Germany and other European lands. When one con¬ 
siders what it costs to bring up a person from infancy 
to the age of twenty years, when full working power is 
attained, one can begin to appreciate what a drain it is 
on a country to lose that young force by tens of thous¬ 
ands every year. That Europe has been able to main¬ 
tain her prosperity as she has under such a drain is 
remarkable. These young forces of hundreds of thous¬ 
ands every year from Scandinavia, Germany, England, 
Scotland, Ireland, and other lands have come to enrich 
our own land especially, and it is largely due to them 
that our country has witnessed such wonderful progress 
during the last three quarters of a century and been 
enabled to conquer the wilderness in so short a time. 

Erom Mullsjo to Jonkoping took us only 44 minutes. 
This beautiful city is located at the southern end of 
Lake Vatter, the second largest lake in Sweden. Here 


SWEDEN. 


393 


we spent the “Fourth.” It was a Sunday and a very 
quiet day. We did not see a single American flag all 
day. We attended services in the large Sophia Church. 
The sermon was excellent, but the congregation was 
small. This latter circumstance may in part be ex¬ 
plained by the fact that at this time of the year in 
Sweden people in the cities are usually on vacations out 
in the country. Still it must be admitted that the con¬ 
gregations were small in all the churches we attended 
both in Sweden and in Germany, except in the Dom in 
Berlin where we had to stand. 

While in Jonkoping, we made an excursion to Hus- 
kvarna, a suburb a few miles east of the city, noted for 
its ancient manufacturing establishments, its splendid 
water power, and its beautiful falls. From Jonkoping 
we took the train to Nassjo, and then on the trunk line 
on which we had gone up to Stockholm, we now re¬ 
turned to Malmo. 



Glimpses of three Continents. 26. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Homeward. 

From Malmo we took a steamer across the narrow 
sound to Copenhagen. Here our stop, in the land of 
Thorwaldsen and Hans Christian Andersen, was all too 
short. We visited a few of the more interesting places, 
among which were the Palaces of Amalienborg and the 
Marble Church, from the lofty dome of which we had 
a beautiful view of the capital of Denmark. 

From Copenhagen we continued our voyage to the 
old Hanse town of Liibeck, where we took the train for 
Celle. Here we stopped a- day while I made an excur¬ 
sion to Hermannsburg to visit Dr. K. Roebbelen, who 
is at the head of the mission institution at this place. 
We had visited the Hermannsburg Telugu mission in 
India a few months before, and I had greetings from 
the field. I was also to negotiate with the Hermanns¬ 
burg Society for taking over our mission work among 
the Xestorians in Urmia, Persia, for this society was 
carrying on a similar work in the same place. I was 
received in a most cordial manner by Dr. and Mrs. Roeb¬ 
belen, and I had a most agreeable visit with them. The 
negotiations with regard to the Persian mission, how¬ 
ever, afterwards carried on by correspondence, finally 


HOMEWARD. 


395 



came to naught, as the society did not have the men to 
superintend the work in a proper manner. 

Our next destination was Cologne. Eii route we 
made a short stop in the beautiful city of Hannover, 
then continuing our journey, we passed through Essen, 
the site of the famous Krupp works, and finally reached 
the Rhine. Cologne is one of the oldest cities in Ger¬ 
many, having been founded before the time of Christ. 
Agrippina, the mother of Nero, was born here. When 


The Cathedral of Cologne. 







396 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


she became empress she caused a Roman colony to be 
planted there, and the place was named for her Colonia 
Agrippina, from which the present name has been 
derived. 

The glory of Cologne is its beautiful Cathedral. Its 
construction was begun in 1248 and completed in 1880. 
A mediaeval legend relates that the original architect 
while walking one night on the banks of the Rhine, 
studying the difficult-problem and almost despairing of 
success, was suddenly accosted by the devil, who offered 
to furnish him the plans on condition that he would 
give his soul in return. Upon inquiry the architect was 
informed that he would become world famous. He 
asked for time to consider the proposition. It was 
granted. The architect consulted a priest, who advised 
him to take the devil’s drawings in his hands and while 
discussing the terms to glance at the plans till he had 
them fixed in his mind, and then decline the offer. The 
architect acted on the suggestion. The devil, finding 
himself outwitted, complained of treachery, but de¬ 
clared that as a punishment the architect’s name should 
go down into oblivion. His name is not known. 

The towering spires reach a height of 512 feet, the 
exact length of the church. The cathedral stands to¬ 
day as the finest and purest monument of Gothic archi¬ 
tecture in the world. 

The city is also celebrated for its manufacture of 
eau de Cologne, for the production of which, it is said, 
there are no less than 24 establishments in the place. 

After two days we took the train for Paris, passing 
through Belgium and the cities of Aachen, Liege, 
Namur, and St. Quentin. Paris may be called the art, 


HOMEWARD. 


397 


fashion, and pleasure center of the world. In the beauty 
of its architecture it stands without a peer among cities. 
Its streets and boulevards are not mere thoroughfares 
for travel and traffic, they are also objects of beauty 
and art. To see Paris in detail would take months, and 
to describe it would require volumes. 

To see the most important parts of Paris and to do 
it in a few days it is best to take one’s bearings at a few 
central points, say five or six, and study the sights 
within a limited radius at each point. The first and 
most important of these central points is the Place de 
la Concorde. Here take your stand at the foot of the 
great Obelisk of Luxor and look around. You stand in 
the center of the grandest square in the world. The 
scene around you seems to be one of life, beauty, and 
pleasure. You might here be tempted to forget that 
there is anything like sorrow or suffering in the world. 
And yet only 120 years ago this very spot was the scene 
of some of the world’s greatest tragedies. Here stood 
the dreaded guillotine reeking with the blood of Louis 
XYI, Marie Antoinette, and thousands of other illus¬ 
trious men and women of France. 

Facing the west you have to your right a beautiful 
avenue, the Eue Eoyale, opening up a magnificent vista 
and furnishing you a lovely view of the Church of La 
Madeleine, the finest modern specimen of Greek archi¬ 
tecture. A little to the east of this avenue rises the 
•lofty column of Yendome, erected by Napoleon to com¬ 
memorate his victory at Austerlitz. To your left is the 
magnificent Pont de la Concorde across the Seine, with 
the Chamber of Deputies at the further end. 

Directly in front of you stretches the finest and most 


398 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


fashionable avenue in Paris, that of the Champs Elysees. 
Here one may see promenading or driving in carriages 
or automobiles more people bent on enjoyment than any¬ 
where else in the world. On either side of the avenue 
are beautiful grounds with shade trees and walks and 
cafes and open-air theaters. At the further end of this 
splendid avenue, and on an eminence, stands Napoleon’s 
Arch of Triumph, pronounced the grandest monument 
of its kind ever erected. From it radiate, like rays 
from a luminous center, twelve magnificent avenues. 

Behind you, that is toward the east, is the Garden of 
the Tuileries. The palace in which the royal family 



The Arch of Triumph. 



































Place de VOpera. 
























400 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


were prisoners during the early days of the Revolution 
was destroyed by the anarchists during the siege of 
Paris in 1871. Behind this garden is the Palace or 
Museum of the Louvre, containing some of the largest 
and rarest collections of art and antiquities in existence. 
Among the latest additions is the stone on which is in¬ 
scribed the Code of Hammurabi. 

Another select viewpoint is the Place de POpera. 
Connected with this square are a number of the grand 
boulevards of Paris. Here one may take a double¬ 
decked omnibus, the upper story, from which one has a 
fine view, and drive to the east end of the city to the 
Place de la Bastille, a third viewpoint. Here-stood the 
gloomy old dungeon of France for centuries until it 
was demolished at the opening of the Revolution. On 
the spot has been erected a lofty column surmounted 
by a figure of Liberty. From the top of this column 
a magnificent view of the city maybe obtained. 

From this point we descend southward to the river 
and cross a channel of it to an island, the original site 
of Paris. On this island is located the celebrated 
Cathedral of Notre Dame. Opposite it, on the north 
side of the river, is the historic Hotel de Ville. To the 
southward lies the Pantheon and the Sorbonne, the 
theological department of the old University of Paris. 
Opposite it is the Palace of Luxembourg. 

Proceeding westward, and still on the south side of 
the river, we finally reach the Esplanade des Invalides. 
Here in the Church of the Invalides and under a lofty 
dome, rising three hundred feet above the city, lie the 
remains of the Great Napoleon. In this vicinity, too, 
stands the celebrated Eifel Tower. 


HOMEWARD. 


401 


Leaving Paris we took the train through the old 
Norman city of Bouen to Dieppe. From there a small 
steamer took ns, in four hours, across the English 
Channel. Thence in an hour and a quarter by rail we 
reached London. 

It would be idle to attempt in a few paragraphs to 
describe this great city—a world in itself. Unlike 
Paris, London is not known for its beautiful architec¬ 
ture. It is the greatest financial and political center 
in the world. No other city is Shaping the destiny of 
so large a portion of the earth’s surface or of the earth’s 
inhabitants. There is a democratic freedom about Lon¬ 
don, but with it all an unsurpassed respect for law and 
order. It is said to be the quietest of all the large cities 
in the world. 

During the short time allotted to us in London we 
visited some of its most interesting places, such as, 
Westminster Abbey, the Parliament Building, Trafalgar 
Square, the Thames Embankment, the British Museum, 
St. Paul’s, London Bridge, the Tower and Tower 
Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, the Kensing¬ 
ton Gardens, the Albert Memorial, etc. 

One of the most noted places in London is Trafalgar 
Square, with the Nelson Monument as the central figure. 
Here a number of important streets converge. South¬ 
ward runs a street to Westminster Abbey and the Par¬ 
liament Building. Along this street you pass a number 
' of government buildings and also, on the east side of it, 
the old Palace of Whitehall, the residence of English 
kings from Henry VIII to William III. From a win¬ 
dow of this palace stepped Charles I to the scaffold, 
and here Oliver Cromwell breathed his last. 


402 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


Westminster Abbey is one of the most venerable 
structures in existence. Most visitors to the interior 
of it, however, are apt to be disappointed. It is sepul¬ 
chral, murky, musty, and apparently overcrowded. Here 
the English sovereigns have been crowned since the 
time of Edward the Confessor. Here may be seen the 
old Coronation Chair, enclosing the celebrated Stone of 
Scone. According to tradition this stone once served 
the patriarch for a pillow at Bethel. Centuries after¬ 
wards it found its way to Ireland. From there it was 
taken to the Monastery of Iona, and thence to Scotland. 
Upon it for many centuries the Scottish kings were 
crowned. It is said to have contained this inscription: 

“Should fate not fail, where’er this stone be found, 
The Scot shall monarch of that realm be crowned.” 

That an English king should carry a stone with such a 
prophecy upon it to Westminster seems strange, yet that 
is what Edward I did in 1296. The prophecy was ful¬ 
filled in 1603, when James VI of Scotland was crowned 
James I of England. 

Besides England’s kings and queens, many of her 
illustrious men and women are buried here, while others 
have been honored with busts and memorial tablets. 
A few not English have been honored thus. Among 
them may be named Handel, Longfellow, and Jenny 
Lind. 

The Parliament Building is, all things considered, 
the most imposing structure we saw on our whole trip. 
The best view of it may be had from the magnificent 
Westminster Bridge. It is about a thousand feet in 
length and covers an area of eight acres. The majestic 



Westminster Abbey. 




































404 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 



The Parliament Building. 


Victoria Tower rises to a height of 340 feet, and the 
Clock Tower at the opposite end is only 20 feet lower. 

Westward from the Abbey lies Buckingham Palace, 
the royal residence, and near it is the Palace of St. 
James, the official residence of the English court. Be¬ 
yond these to the west is Hyde Park and beyond this 
again are the Kensington Gardens. Here on the spot 
where stood the Crystal Palace, in which the first 
World’s Fair was held in 1851, stands the beautiful 
Albert Memorial, erected to the memory of the Prince 
Consort, the originator of the world’s fair idea. It is 
claimed by some to be the finest monument ever erected. 
In this vicinity are also the Imperial Institute, Albert 
Hall, and the Museum of Natural History. The British 
Museum proper lies some distance to the north of Traf¬ 
algar Square. 

The most crowded thoroughfare in the world is per¬ 
haps the Strand, running eastward from Trafalgar 







HOMEWARD. 


405 



Square to Temple Bar and then continued as Fleet 
Street to Ludgate Hill and St. Paul’s. The best mode 
of travel for sightseers in London is by the double- 
decked omnibus, from the upper deck of which one has 
a fine view of both streets and buildings. As we look 
around us from this vantage ground we see the street 
literally filled with vehicles of all descriptions, usually 
two abreast moving in each direction, each column hold¬ 
ing to its left, for in Europe vehicles in meeting always 
turn to the left and in driving hold to the left side of 
the street. As we thus see ourselves completely hemmed 
in, we begin to wonder how we shall ever get out. But 
we move with the current, and there are no more skilful 
drivers in the world than are found here. Soon we are 
at our destination and are let off in perfect safety. 

We have reached St. Paul’s. This beautiful structure, 


Buckingham Palace. 




406 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


the work of Christopher Wren, whose only monument 
is the building itself, is built, like St. Peter’s, in the 
Renaissance style. This is, however, about the only 
thing it has in common with St. Peter’s. It is ex¬ 
tremely simple in its furnishings. What impressed us 
the most in St. Paul’s was the beautiful service which 
we attended one morning. Services, by the way, are 
conducted here every morning. St. Paul’s lies in the 
midst of the busiest part of London. It was beautiful 
to see large numbers of busy men leave for an hour 
their offices and counting rooms to engage in worship, 
and to see women a shopping come in, lay down their 
parcels, and join in the service. It was a beautiful 
picture of religion in the midst of everyday life. 

From the lofty dome we had a fine view of the city. 
The attendant pointed out to us scores of interesting 
places connected, as nearly every part of London is, 
with history and literature. 

From St. Paul’s we proceed to London Bridge, from 
which we must take a view of the great city. A little 
further down we come to Tower Bridge, lately con¬ 
structed at a cost of six million dollars. Near the 
bridge is the old London Tower, erected by William the 
Conquerer over 800 years ago. 

From London we took the train to Liverpool, and 
were taken directly to the pier of the Cunard Company. 
In a few moments we had boarded the great steamer 
Lusitania. At six o’clock in the evening of July 17 
we set sail for home. Seldom have we seen such an 
immense assemblage of people as stood on the shore 
as we sailed out. There were several thousand passen¬ 
gers on board, and their thousands and thousands of 



St. Paul's. 


























408 


GLIMPSES OF THREE CONTINENTS. 


friends were waving their farewells from the pier— 
some with smiles and well-wishes, others with tear- 
dimmed eyes and prayers. 

The next morning we reached Queenstown on the 
south coast of Ireland. We did not land, but anchored 
for a few hours in the harbor. After five days of smooth 
and pleasant sailing, except for fogs, we reached New 
York on the morning of July 23, and landed at the 
pier from which we had sailed out in the Carpathia the 
year before. 

A feeling of gratitude to God filled our hearts as we 
once more stood within our native land. We had been 
away many months. We had traveled in fifteen differ¬ 
ent lands, ranging in latitude from within a few degrees 
of the equator to sixty degrees north. We had sailed 
in fourteen different ships and been 72 days on the sea. 
We had been in heathen and Mohammedan lands and 
at times in the midst of revolutions. And with it all 
we had met with no accident, nor been delayed on ac¬ 
count of accident for even a minute. Our health, too, 
had been wonderfully preserved, and our nights’ rest 
had not been broken. For all these mercies and bless¬ 
ings we owed a debt of gratitude to him who hath said, 
“I will guide thee with mine eye.” 

But if there was any other feeling that rose upper¬ 
most in our hearts it was joy—joy at being home again, 
where we understood not only the language but also 
the customs of the country, and where we felt that we 
ourselves were understood. We were ready to endorse 
the sentiments of Goldsmith’s Traveler: 

“Such is the patriot’s boast where’er we roam, 

His first, best country, ever is at home.” 


H 66 89 1 

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